Trying The Tiger
by Yugi's Girl006
Summary: Tyson, Max, Ray, and Kai are going to camp for summer break. Ray tries to work out some mixed feelings he has for Kai while surviving the camp and a few other obstacles. It is mostly a one-sided crush from Ray's point-of-view but who knows where it might lead? Ray/Kai romance. Some hints of Ray/Tyson jealousy.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or any of its characters.

A/N: I started this a long time ago and had all the pieces together but never got around to typing it up, so here goes nothing! It is a (predominately one sided) Ray/Kai romance with a weird plot but I tried to keep it light and humorous but I tend to get off track sometimes. Haha, anyway, off I go!

Chapter One: Spring Fever

"If you died this second would there be anything you'd regret not saying?" Tyson mused, seemingly to nobody in particular. We (Tyson, Max, Kenny, Hilary, and I) had been watching late night TV in Max's living room. I had been ignoring most of everything to fiddle around with a camera that Mariah and Lee had sent me for my birthday. I had just gotten it in the mail today and had spent all hours afterwards trying to figure out how to turn it on. Hey, come on, un-advanced Neko-jin here. I have no electronical (is that even a word?) skills whatsoever. It was strange that they would even send it to begin with since Lee has trouble operating a toaster…so, I couldn't even imagine how they figured this thing out. Especially since (not to brag) I have a better ability at picking up new things quickly and I am still struggling with it. I suppose they could have asked Kevin who has a bit more experience in this sort of thing. Although last I checked, he still kinda hated me. Maybe he was the one who actually sent it, knowing that it would drive me crazy. It had been addressed from Mariah though. I'm not quite sure if that hatred had spread to the rest of them again but there had to be some reason they sent me such a torturous device.

"Who's dying?" I ask, not actually giving him my attention, or catching Max's blank stare and Hilary's 'you're so stupid' look. Although she is always pretty good for those. Especially when Tyson is involved. It saved us from having to say it. Not that we haven't on occasion but even we get tired of pointing out the obvious sometimes. Thanks Hilary.

"Nobody is dying! Hypothetically…like, what kinds of things would your friends and family find out about you after your death that they never knew? Like secrets!" Tyson went on, ignoring the looks. Hypothetically? I didn't even know Tyson knew such a big word… And why does this feel like it is leading towards a game of Truth or Dare? What happened to playing in the park and rough housing? Have we grown too old for that now? I'm not sure TV is an appropriate substitute. It seems kind of boring to me in comparison…

Max shakes his head and grabs at him for the remote but Tyson dodges by jumping over the couch to the other side.

"Come on! Clearly you and CSI marathons don't mix. When did you start liking that anyway?" Max moves to counter his escape. A scuffle starts as they dance around the room and Hilary rolls her eyes. Maybe I was mistaken about being too old for that after all.

"Boys…" Hilary sighs. She should be used to this by now. If she hates it so much, why is she always hanging around with us? I mean, there are other bladers out there that are more mature. Like Emily! She's even halfway decent and probably much better company as a girl. They could paint their nails and do their hair…or whatever girls do for fun. Unless Hilary has some other reason she is always with us instead. *cough*Tyson*cough*

Maybe that's HER secret. She does tend to show her emotions the most when the said blader is involved. One second she is all gung-ho supportive and the next she is absolutely hostile. If that isn't love I dunno what is. She hides it very well with that condescending look she is sending the two of them as she tries to avoid getting caught up in the wrestling match they had started. Just kidding, I think it has to be something else.

I would be scared for Tyson if that were true. Maybe she is waiting for him to mature before making a move? She could be waiting quite a while. Patience of a saint if that is the case. I think she is going to develop a complex from all those furrowed brows that he seems to bring out of her before that happens. She might be better off going after Kenny. At least the two of them have things in common (like how annoyed Tyson can get them). That might just be avoiding the real issue there though. And picturing Kenny with anyone is kind of awkward. Except maybe Tyson as well… Does this guy get all the attention? Obviously Max would win that fight anyway. Just look at them, those two are like Siamese twins! Except not connected and not at all alike in appearance. Maybe more like fraternal twins, with different parents.

Anyway…enough about all that. *shudder*

Despite my distraction (and inner musing on Hilary's/Kenny's preferences in love interests *shudder again*), Tyson actually has my mind going. Not that I have a whole secret life going on like the people they have on those TV shows, but have you ever felt like you were two different people? I don't mean like split personalities either. Those are usually unaware of each other's existence, I think. This however, is a fully conscience awareness. Two different people conflicting inside but one showing openly on the outside. The outside one of course being the person that everyone else sees and expects… This is the person that you've always been and nobody can imagine not being who you are. Maybe it was growing up. Maybe it was hormones, or age, or any number of things that could cause such a change.

But somehow there is this other person that also existed in me…the one that I wouldn't show. The secret thoughts that pass through my head but that the people I know would never actually consider to be things that I would say or think. I have always been one to hold my tongue unless it was important to the situation. I support my friends. I look at things carefully and provide the best solutions that I know. I laugh when it is appropriate and scowl when it is not. I show self-confidence and pride, but know when to concede. Over the years I have been pretty consistent with my outer me. I have the same interests, I share the same insights, I go to the same places, and do the same things. I smile at Tyson and Max's antics and Hilary and Kenny's annoyances. And yet somehow…over these years, I feel like I've changed a lot more than they have and in a different way. This person started to developed different feelings and different views on things. It was almost like I had changed in some way that I didn't quite understand or was ready to accept.

So I hid this alteration. Out of fear or guilt or maybe even courtesy, I chose not to let it show. I wanted people to see the old reliable Ray, the one they knew and loved, and not this…different…me that I didn't even understand sometimes myself. Both sides were still equally me but are so unalike that it is almost impossible to believe. I started to wonder if it would ever come out. Could anyone really keep a secret self? And for how long? Eventually something would happen to make you slip up. Right?

"No, listen! I'm serious!" Uh-oh, Tyson is serious. Somebody call reinforcements… "I want you guys to know that you can tell me anything. We are friends over anything else!" I would have been touched by such a remark but it was that moment that I discovered the play button and a picture popped up on the camera's previously blank screen.

"Hey Ray-Ray, miss us yet?" Mariah. A wink and then Lee's back.

"What are you doing Mariah? Talking to yourself again?"

"Say hello to Ray, Lee! I'm making him a special birthday video so he can pretend we're there with him and he won't get lonely." Lee moves and Mariah waves over his shoulder, smiling brightly. Lee turns around with a confused look on his face.

"Where did you get that thing? And why is it glowing?" He gets really close as if looking at something and Mariah swats him away.

"It's recording, you're gonna ruin it! Just say hi!" He huffs and then seems to realize what she'd said.

"Recording?" It sinks in. "Oh…" He suddenly gets stiff and tries to hide a blush as he appears to get camera shy. He waves awkwardly. "Um…hi…Ray?" Then he walks away quickly and there is a loud crash and an "Ow". Everything leaves the view except the wall (or is that the ceiling?).

"Oh Lee, watch where you are going! You messed it up! Now I have to start over again!"

"This is stupid. Why can't we just send a card?!"

"I thought this would be more personal! And I did send a card!" Struggling sounds and a few disgruntled noises and then it goes blank again. I smile a little. Good ol' Lee. The camera itself seemed in good shape for surviving his antics. Ah the wonders of technology…

It had been almost 2 years since I had been home. Travelling with the guys wherever they went had seemed much more exciting. Sure I missed my family, but truthfully, there wasn't much left back home. After being out in the real world, it was, let's face it, boring. And yeah all that family obligation and junk existed but that why Lee and Mariah had returned. At first they had been angry at my departure so they sent me gifts and things from home that might make me nostalgic enough to return. I wouldn't be surprised if seeing Mariah and Lee on film wasn't a ploy to make me miss them more. Beyblade season was over and summer was here so I would have less excuses to use to evade them. But there were more personal reasons why I wanted to avoid returning this time.

"That's it?" It is then that I realize I had captured the attention of everyone else as well. Tyson had voiced another thought of mine and I turn the camera over to see if it's still running. Still not quite sure what I am doing, I close it and look up at Tyson and Max, both of which are looking rather disappointed. At least they had stopped their fighting.

"I'm surprised that got that much," I laugh. "We don't have very many things like this in our little village…"

"Yeah, you don't even have phones," Tyson flops down on the couch and starts flipping channels. "But that was nice of them…" And his interest is lost. Max goes back to trying to gain control of the remote and Hilary goes on complaining about how immature boys are. All that was missing was one of Kai's 'don't put me in that category' glares. And maybe Kenny. He'd left somewhere between the fifth episode of CSI and Tyson's random musings and friendship speech. Funny how one minute Tyson is rambling about being perfect friends and the next he is pushing Max off the couch into the coffee table with a hard thud. Ouch, that had to sting. I wince. He's laughing so I'm sure it's okay though. I wince again as another thud sounds as Tyson is backed into a different piece of furniture, not losing his grip on the object of desire even slightly. Such fortitude, that guy…

"You guys better stop this before you break something!" I was actually grateful to Hilary for tagging along with us. I felt less obligated to babysit Tyson and Max when Kai wasn't around to shut them up with his glares. Although I had taken over that responsibility even in Kai's presence a long time ago. Kai was more like an 'I'll die before I act like I care' kind of person. He pretty much ignored everyone as long as he didn't become a victim of their playfulness, unless he somehow was forced to become the voice of reason when even I was swept up in them. At least Hilary had the decency to give me a little break from having to be the mature one of the group. It gave me more time for inner monologues and pondering my existence. I wonder if that's what Kai does when he's ignoring us. It's so hard to get into his head.

I bet you were probably wondering about Kai too actually. Since I hadn't mentioned him in detail up 'til now. Well he wasn't in the immediate area anyway, he was…around.

Sigh.

I guess it is time to finish my previous musings. I didn't finish on purpose. I have been trying to decide if it is important enough to mention or if saying it out loud would make it more "real". Maybe spitting it out to relieve myself of the pressure of hiding it would be better for my mental health. It is just really hard to accept, especially for me. It actually ties into why I won't go home a bit as well. Dishonor. Humiliation. Shame. Embarrassment. How many ways could I hurt just about everyone who has supported me for the last few years? Lee and Mariah had forgiven me for leaving the first time. Tyson and Kenny had forgiven me for leaving the second time. But who would forgive me if they found out that there was a part of me that still wasn't honest with them? I wasn't honest with myself, even. It was too confusing! I guess I will try to explain.

I started with Lee and Mariah for a reason as well. I had known for a while that I wasn't attracted to girls. Partly because of Mariah. She'd always been like a little sister to me. It was a bit strange when she started making advances at me, but I had never felt anything back or indicated that I had those same impulses. I had always assumed it was because of our friendship and the fact that we had all grown up together. Lee, as my brother. Mariah, my sister. It was not easy to cross a line into a different way of thinking about her. Then, I had met Tyson and the others and it was like she no longer existed. Hmm, no, that's not quite right. Time went by quickly, however, and she was not on my mind as it went.

It wasn't just her though. I never had 'feelings' for anyone but it started to become clear that I thought about guys more often than I did girls. I wasn't ready to admit something like being gay. I just had always had other things that were more important. Like Beyblade. If anything, my love for Beyblade way out trumped any feelings for another person that might be aroused. It had everything I ever wanted and brought up a passion in me that I couldn't get from anything else. So I had to admit that Beyblade was the love of my life. Having that change seemed so…abnormal…to me. I spent a lot of time after some more recent events pondering over what my priorities should be in the future and that is when it all became so confusing. Outside thoughts changed the way my old thoughts seemed to operate. The once proud "I can do anything because I believe in myself" Ray Kon was thrown off by these little uncontrolled impulses whose meaning I had yet to fully interpret. It wasn't until those events that I realized just how much of it was out of my control… I also realized that Beyblade left one part of me empty and there was only one thing that could take up a space like that. I'm getting ahead of myself though. Let me just tell you how it happened.

It was an ordinary spring night. Just like any other night really. We were all lazing around in Tyson's bedroom: Max draped over a chair he'd drug in from another room; Tyson hovering over Kenny, who was downloading data onto Tyson's computer to show us all; Kai standing, leaning on a wall that was the farthest away from them; and me, I was lying face down on the bed, propped up on my elbows waiting for this "new, awesome program" to get started. Okay so maybe I was the only one lazing… Hilary had been there in the beginning of the meeting but it was starting to get late so she had to go home.

Anyway, while Chief was in the middle of trying to educate us on a new Beyblade design, there was a sudden loud banging (maybe more like popping) noise and the power went out. Now I don't know how up to date you are on Tyson's bedroom at night, but it isn't exactly brimming with light displays, especially on a night with no moon. In fac, it was so dark that waving your own hand in front of your face would be hard to see.

"Hey!" Tyson had let out a yelp and I heard shuffling as he moved. He somehow must have tripped over Max because I heard Max cry out and a thump, followed by some groans. Instinctively I had moved to help, grabbing for the bedpost to pull myself up, only what I grabbed hadn't been a bedpost at all. It was something soft…and warm. Instead of letting go, I looked up and my eyes met with those red piercing ones (which actually seem quite bright in this darkness) and I realized it is Kai's arm that I had grabbed instead. The (intense) eye contact (whether increased by the dark or maybe the embarrassment that had suddenly washed over me), made me blush and I felt my whole body start to heat up.

Now, at this point, any reasonable person (fool) who had just grabbed onto Kai in the dark would have the knowledge, mind and reflexes to let go and apologize, but (of course) not me. Me? I'd rather act like a deer caught in a trap and just stare at him as my stomach starts to do this weird flip flopping thing and my heart seems to stop. It wasn't like I had never looked Kai in the eye before because there was something about this particular time that was altered. My whole body reacted, as if a connection was made that was never there before. And it was then that I started to notice that something was different here. Instead of my life flashing before my eyes (like others faced with a near death experience…well not really death but it's Kai, so you know what I mean…), instances of our time spent together flashed through: The first time we met; the first time he praised me; the first time he aided me; the first time he laughed with us; saving him from his past; growing closer as a team; him sleeping next to me during trips; the showers; the gym. He always seemed to be around when you needed him and he always seemed the closest to me. He always knew what to say and when to say it. Nothing was ever wasted for him. I had built up a complete admiration for him and at that moment it all seemed to reveal itself to me at once. The way he…

Reality reintroduced itself and my new found feelings were snapped out of me as Kai had brushed my hand away and went on to help the others. I withdrew in a daze, still feeling a tingling and the heat he had stirred inside me (and the thoughts) as he moved away. I opened my mouth to apologize, finally realizing that time hadn't stopped after all, but just as the words start to rise, the lights popped back on and my attention was drawn to the lamp. After settling into the knowledge of having power again, my eyes shot back to Kai, who had succeeded in the untangling of Max, Tyson, Kenny, and the chair. He had fixed Max's chair and was now making sure that nobody was bleeding. I sat up and tried to catch his eye again but Tyson's grandfather burst through the door, nearly knocking Tyson over once more as he had been reaching for that door to go see what was happening outside it.

"Oh sorry, T-man, I was just checkin' you dogs for trouble. My new toy popped a fuse but it seems okay now. Ya dig?" The man has such a way with words.

"Thanks Gramps, I think you broke my computer." Some more dialogue passed between them as everything was checked for damage, Kai returned to the wall as if he had never interfered, and my chance to apologize was gone. My intimate feelings however, were not. I'd become a bundle of girlish nerves whenever we were together in an enclosed area. I did well not to show it openly but it was torture to be face to face with him for any reason. His mere presence was enough to make me lose my thoughts and intelligence. To him it was as if nothing had happened, which is how it should have been for me too. He never brought it up and he didn't treat me any differently. In actuality I noticed just how much time we really DID spend together. With my new awareness of him it even seemed like it was more often than it had been before. The fact that he hung around me more than the other guys because I was less "rambunctious" didn't help that either. And if that wasn't bad enough already, these dreams started up too…

They all began the same. We were all doing normal things in our usual places, always casual, always with the group. Kai would come over and offer to practice with me or show me something new and I'd follow him like a puppy and then he'd smirk and he'd grab me or I'd grab him and…I won't get expressive but you get the idea. It wasn't kid's stuff that's for sure.

It was the dreams that made almost every normal activity with Kai around almost impossible for me to concentrate on. It was affecting my game and to make it worse, I think Kai noticed. He's Kai, how could he not? I didn't know for sure since he never said anything outright, but he had started directly challenging me. The two could possibly not be related because, well, Kai has Kai motives behind all his actions and challenges weren't a strange thing to come from him. He could have just noticed that my game was off and was trying to help me get it back, but I'm paranoid and self-conscious so of course I think it's him knowing. Those two disruptive things seemed a lot more familiar to me now that I had something I wanted to hide. The old Ray would have never chosen to hide anything, especially a whole other person inside.

Nobody else seemed to notice the inner distress. I had become good at developing a very believable mask for everyone. I could fool myself really. Almost. Not really. I wish.

"Hey Ray, are you excited about camp?" Tyson interrupts my little flashback/brooding. I look away from the camera, which I had been staring at intently. To anyone else it probably had looked like I was still trying to figure it out by silently going over everything I had already learned about it.

"What? Oh yeah, sure," I mumble and start to fiddle with the buttons again, refocusing on that task in hand. I'm determined to figure this thing out if it kills me. If Mariah can do it, so can I! And I should send it back with a video of my own, just to show them that their little game won't work. Of course I'd have to tape it another time…wouldn't want Tyson being involved. Or maybe he should be. Hmm… I could bring it to camp and show them that I am not just avoiding them for play time, but I don't know how well that would go over, with them or with the guys. They might think I was sharing some team secrets or something.

"I'm really happy you guys get to go this year! It's so much fun with friends!" Max. I had mentioned that we were at Max's right? We were spending the summer in America because Max's Mom had heard about this camp here that was supposed to be good for sharpening our Beyblading skills and we had all agreed to go. Well three of us had. Hilary was only here temporarily because the camp was an all-boys camp but she had been allowed a week or so before we left to visit and wish us off. And of course Kenny didn't do well with the outdoors sans his computer so he had adamantly declined the invitation. He and Hilary were actually leaving tomorrow to go back to Japan. Max had gone to this camp in previous years and had been raving about it for weeks. If it hadn't been for my Kai issue, I would have been too. I was more afraid of anyone realizing just how much of an issue it was becoming. I had even had thoughts of quitting Beyblading to collect myself, or at least the team. I wasn't quite sure where I would go since home wasn't a place where I would get much thinking done. I was hoping that this camp would help me refocus more so I wouldn't have to consider that option further… Beyblade was my first love after all. You never forget a first.

"What are you doing with that thing?" I look up and almost drop the camera as Kai sits down next to me, crossing his legs elegantly. That was another issue. I seemed to have become quite a lot more poetic in my thoughts since involving myself with quiet contemplations. This might be something a training camp may not be enough to help with. Anyone know a good therapist?

"Ah, hey Kai, better late than never, eh?" I smile, hoping it doesn't look as awkward as it feels. I feel my face start to heat up and try to think about other things. Oh? When did Hilary leave?

"Hn." He crosses his arms but is still waiting for an answer to his question.

"I'm…"

"He's been fiddling with that thing all day. Lee and Mariah sent it with a home video. It took him 6 hours to figure out how to turn it on." Thanks Tyson. Remind me to take you off the buffet list at my next party… I didn't see you helping at all. Smug jerk… Random resentments towards Tyson had also developed. I'm just a basket case now. Old Ray would hate me. Maybe I should hate me. What have I ever done to myself to make me hate me? I could really use a drink right now… Just kidding! My life should remain PG-13. Or at least 17, since that's how old I am.

"Technology confuses me…" My smile fades as I hide my face in embarrassment. I quickly recompose myself before it looks more suspicious than it already is. "I should have asked Kenny to show me."

"Kenny just went to grab something. He'll be back!" Was I talking to you?

I send Tyson a look, then put the camera aside. I wasn't getting anywhere anyway and now that Kai was here I wouldn't be able to concentrate much past my waning composure. It took a lot of effort to keep this perfect cover intact. I wonder if I could train myself to ignore his presence the way that I ignore Tyson and Max.

Could be a new challenge.

Except my heart stops every time he gets too close. Like now. As he is crossing my personal space to pick up the camera and turn it over in his hands.

Help! Quick! Somebody! Ahh!

I let out the breath I am holding in, slowly, so he won't notice. Luckily he also doesn't seem to notice that my body had stiffened for that brief second that his hand had brushed close to mine. He seemed more interested in my camera than what Max was now rambling in his ear. I'm not too sure what that is about either. Something about a shoe and a squirrel? Or a mailbox? I'm not really listening either… And when did they stop fighting again? Was Kai's entrance an automatic time stopper for everyone?

Kai flicks the camera open and clicks a button and the screen pops up black and then the room in front of him suddenly appears.

"Woah, are you recording?" I ask, a little awed, leaning closer for a better look. My fascination temporarily removes the otherwise noticeable discomfort around the older teen. He tilts his head and then pushes another button but the screen goes blank again. There is no indication that he is even listening or paying attention to me as he is handing it back.

"Did they send a charger?" His response. Not the answer I was looking for but it was an answer at least.

"A what?" I stare at him clueless. He smirks.

"Save the technology for the people who can actually use it, Ray. You're better with books." I don't know whether it's the way he says my name or that smirk that sets me off (it certainly wasn't the insult). But I blush and quickly stand up before he can see it. Why do I like him again? He's not social by any means and when he is it is either condescending or smart-ass know-it-all. I'm still not quite sure where the attraction comes from…

He leans back bored and I watch him from the corner of my eye as I walk towards the hallway.

And what is it about his attitude that makes my heart beat so fast? Maybe I like him because he is a challenge on his own. I love challenges. In those terms, who couldn't love Kai? Oh geez, now I have moved into love to describe this. Another abstract feeling. Attraction is enough. Forget love! I can't be in love with Kai.

"I'm gonna go find Kenny…" I announce. I get a mixture of nods, grunts, okays, and another smirk before I exit. Gotta love the enthusiasm (and that smirk).

"At least I know what to get Ray if I need him to stay occupied for a while," Tyson laughs. I grit my teeth a bit but it is Tyson so I don't hold it against him for long. Fleeting resentment remember? I still hadn't seen him rush to my aide any…

I find Kenny in the kitchen.

"Hey, just the genius I was looking for!"

After listening to some technical talk and discovering that all my fiddling had somehow managed to drain the battery, the camera is cast aside, useless. I guess I have to find one of these 'charger' thingy's Kai mentioned… I still can't get that smirk out of head either and I can't tell whether it's because of the good feelings it instigated or the bad ones. It is rather unusual that I get upset so easily but showing my weaknesses has never been something that I liked to do. Even new Ray had that much going for him. Kai always seemed so sure of himself. It drew me to him the same way that it led me away and I couldn't help that it created so much conflict in me. Maybe camp really was the escape I needed to clear my head of all this mess. Kai had agreed to go but part of me kept thinking (hoping) it was just a formality. He couldn't be cooped up with Tyson for that long without wanting to hurt somebody (could he?). Although, keeping Kai near was a good way to monitor exactly what brought the feelings out and being forced to confront them to work as a team may put me in a position where I have to face it all. Either way, I decided at this moment that by the end of summer I would figure this out and I might just need Kai around to do that.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or anything involved in its creation.

Chapter 2: Merry Go Round

"No Beyblade?! Isn't this a training camp?!" Tyson's ready to explode. Okay, so he IS exploding.

"Tyson calm down…" My attempt to balance him out, bitterly, but hey, I still know my duty.

"Calm down?! You calm down!" He's not convinced. I leave, having given my two cents on the matter and taken all of Tyson that I could for the moment. Max takes over the responsibility as two councilors start to get ready to defend if he attacks. What he'd attack, I'm not sure…maybe the sign he had just discovered as we all were getting off the bus.

"It's just a precaution to preserve the safety of the campers," one of the councilors tries to explain. Tyson seems to be ignoring them though as he continues his outburst and Max continues to restrain him verbally.

"Just forget about it Tyson, we are already here."

"We have designated areas…"

"Designated?!" he processes. "…oh." Tyson's tone drops from yelling. "Well why didn't you say so?!" He laughs. Max laughs. Everyone relaxes. All is well. Haha, great.

Excuse my sarcasm for a moment.

I plop down on a bench and cross my arms as they all rejoice and continue to yammer on in a more joyful tone and enthusiasm. Tyson then starts his usual bragging session of introducing himself to the other campers while Max follows with his own greetings. I, however, am a little too miffed to join in all the excitement.

Kai leans up against the back of the bench, behind me, looking indifferent and unfazed by the outburst and its unsatisfying conclusion. I swear Tyson is right about him, he is a sorcerer. Well okay, so that goes against the principles of reality, but anyone immune to Tyson's drama has some sort of magical powers.

Anyway, I'm ticked. Not because Kai is hovering around me so I can't think straight, but because…well…Tyson.

On the bus ride over, Tyson had gotten excited as food was being passed around to everyone. In the scuffle of trying to obtain everyone else's share he had accidentally thrown my bag out the window. Not my whole bag, just my hiking shoes, my brush, and a few other odds and ends that would make living in the woods for a month less stressful. They wouldn't stop the bus either, telling me that it was probably just my imagination. Tyson had also fallen for that line, not realizing what he had done, or bothering to apologize for it. Not that an apology would help at this point, but it would have been nice.

"Just get used to it," Kai breaks my thoughts. He might be the only one on the bus who knew or actually believed that I had in fact suffered a loss due to Tyson. I dig the heels of my slippers into the dirt and growl but he continues to try and comfort me, for whatever reason. "At least you have something to wear." Then he walks away before I can question his response. There had been something in it that was somehow cryptic. I could just tell.

"Hey wait! What does that…?" Grr, he's already gone. At least my anger had temporarily distracted me from my other thoughts involving Kai. I nearly forgot about the bottle of soda I had dropped on the bus that had gotten me several angry stares from the bus driver and a warning that I would be cleaning it up before it got hot and made everything sticky, all because Kai said I looked good in ordinary clothes.

I had opted not to wear my traditional Chinese dress and had packed things that were more modern so I would fit in better. All of us had in fact. We didn't want to be noticed too excessively considering that we weren't the only ones there. The only one who couldn't really pull off "blending in" was Max. You can get the boy to change his clothes but you can't get him to stop dressing like a fluorescent safety cone.

Of course Tyson took discretion right out of meeting new people by announcing to everyone EXACTLY who he was. I had a feeling I would spend a lot of time angry this summer. It seemed somewhat helpful though. Maybe if I stayed angry all the time I wouldn't have any more issues. That just seems unfair though. To me AND to my friends.

I'm left pondering what I am going to do when a cry breaks out catching everyone's attention. Well, more of a shriek really, but not from any of us. Unless Max suddenly turned into a girl without me knowing. Wait, a girl?

I look up and to my surprise it's not Max but is, in fact, a girl. Who invited them? The brochure was very specific about it being all boys. Did they change the rules?

As for why she was shrieking, well I'll give you two guesses. Yeah. So you won't need two. Tyson.

While jumping around in his greetings he had discovered a mud hole that had suctioned off his shoe (ah Karma). As he was flailing to catch his balance he had grabbed onto whatever was nearest to him, the girl. Now they were both tangled together and covered in mud. Several gasps were released and a few other girls who were standing a bit further ahead, back away in horror, clinging to each other as if Tyson is some sort of monster. Confusing…this is normal Tyson behavior. Nothing out of the *SMACK*…ow, that had to hurt…

"Hey! What was that for?!" I can't help but wince as Tyson (still in the mud) nurses his face, which has just been slapped, hard, by the girl, right before she scrambled away and the two councilors who were monitoring us had rushed in to separate them.

"Don't TOUCH me!" she cries as she returns to her friends. The looks on their faces went from horror to disgust rather quickly and Tyson just rubs his face in confusion.

"Geez, it's not like I wanted to…" he blurts out bitterly. She freezes and whips around to go back for another hit but her friends and the councilors stop her before she gets too far.

"Calm down, Sarah. He's not worth getting sent to isolation." Sound advice. I think? She huffs and spins around again, complaining about the mud on her clothes as they continue down the path. Max moves in to help Tyson up and to retrieve Tyson's lost shoe, which is still somewhere in the mud. Whoever said that vengeance wasn't the answer, obviously didn't know how it feels. Hahaha *cough*

"Hn." I catch a smirk from Kai who is now on the other side of the walkway, starting to head in the direction the others are all going. The way he catches my eye makes me think he read my thoughts and I advert my eyes.

We have always seemed to have this silent communication between us. It was something that the other guys didn't seem to share with him, or me, if I think about. It was something special we had together. Maybe it was a part of the reason why I felt such a connection to him. That and he seemed to share a lot of my feelings and sentiments.

Like now.

As Tyson and Max are tumbling back down into the mud, instead of helping, he tosses me another look that says 'now you are even' before grabbing his bag and continuing on. I actually wouldn't be surprised if he had enjoyed that spectacle (or created it) but too many people would notice such malice, especially after the incident with that girl having happened. Which, quite frankly, I am still confused about. A girl?

From the looks of it, the shoe wasn't coming up that easily either. If it did, he would have quite a time cleaning it out so maybe it was justice for me. I'm still mad though…

The head councilor arrives at the scene and rolls his eyes, throwing his head back in a 'why me?' manner before going to dig the two boys out.

"What's wrong with those girls? I didn't do anything weird. Why are they here anyway?" Tyson is still muttering as the mess is sorted out.

"We have rules here. Breaking boundary rules is one of our most highly disciplined. Girls are not permitted to interact with boys on a physical level. That's why we separate them for activities. But it will all be explained at the welcome meeting. We have to get you cleaned up quickly so we don't miss it," the head councilor instructs the other two on what to do next and they usher the rest of us ahead so that Tyson and Max can get cleaned up without interrupting the flow of things.

"I didn't do it on purpose…" I hear Tyson go on as I stand to follow their instructions.

"Rules are rules."

And we learned just how many "rules" there really were. A lot more than any of us could ever have anticipated. No fighting. No swimming in the lake. No hanging out behind the recreation building. No travelling alone. No skipping activities. No skipping meals. Clean the cabins every morning for inspection. Dress inspection. No eating outside. No going out after dark. No interacting physically with girls. No phones. No reading unless it's during Mass or pertaining to it…and a bunch more that I stopped listening to.

It was like if there was an action you could think of, there was a rule for it. There was free time in the afternoons for us to relax and do whatever we wanted within their limits, but everything else was a strict regime of activities. It was kind of scary actually. This wasn't what I had expected at all and not exactly what I had considered the "fun" Max had described to us. If they could force us to fake happiness during activities I am sure they would have tried.

Punishment for disobeying rules was like an exaggerated "time out". First offense was returning to your own cabin until called upon. Second offense was sitting with the chief councilor for a lecture and some type of detention or therapy. Third offense, isolation.

Isolation was a scary word for a cabin out alone in the woods that was locked from the outside with no way out. It was also the first offense punishment for anything involving any of the rules pertaining to the physical interactions (of boys) with girls or fighting. They had separate ones for boys and girls but it seemed like the girls were never held at fault for anything. It was almost like being born a guy was against the rules which put me on edge a little just being here…

Did I mention Mass? I think I did. Yeah… We had to attend Mass every morning after breakfast and every night before bed. This, of course, threw all of us for a loop.

"What?! What kind of joke is this?" Tyson finally joining us. Not that any of us had anything against religion, we just weren't expecting it here. And even though Tyson had returned to the group a while ago (one shoe less) he had been yammering on about planes to one of the other campers he had met while cleaning up. He finally seemed to tune in to what else was going on around him and he seemed to be at his best for outbursts today. "You've got to be kidding me…" He exchanges looks with Max who just shrugs as Tyson goes about digging through his bag for the brochure.

His actions are ignored as the director goes on about cafeteria rules. Girls go first, proper dinner etiquette, blah, blah, blah… Maybe they shoulda just made it an all-girls camp.

"Hn, I'm sure they've tried," Kai, on my right. I turn to him and blink. Had I said that out loud?

Actually I am surprised he's so calm. All these rules have everyone pretty upset, but he seems completely unmoved by them. Did he know something we didn't?

"This doesn't bother you?" I ask casually.

It is then that Tyson finds the brochure and lets out a startled gasp as the brochure falls open and becomes two. He pales. I'm taken aback. I have never seen Tyson…pale…before. He's usually pretty tough.

It's then that I catch the dilemma and I drop my arms (which had been crossed as I had been relaxing while zoning out) and sit up straighter.

One brochure, the one we had all been looking at for the past few weeks, had been folded over another. This one was labelled "Rise Again Christian Fellowship Camp" with a picture on it that looked quite a lot like the building we were in right now. Huh. Fancy that…

"Oh…my…God…" This gets several glares and angry looks from the people around us within earshot of Tyson's low realization. "Max!" He pushes the blonde to get his attention. "When your mom made the reservation do you think she…?" Max takes the brochures and thinks this over carefully.

"Hmm, they must have been stuck together. My mom has brochures from everywhere." He shrugs as if it is no big deal, not really affirming anything but not denying it either.

"But Max, do you know what this means?" Tyson tries to get a stronger reaction from him. Max's face twists into thinking but he still seems as nonchalant as ever.

But I'm not. Not only are we stuck in the middle of nowhere at the wrong camp, with no way to return for almost two months, with rules so numerous and strict that even a saint couldn't remember them all, but…no, that's about it. We're totally at the wrong summer camp!

* * *

><p>"They even split us up!" Tyson's still exploding twenty minutes after the meeting has been let out and for about the 50th time since discovering our location. He flops down on a bunk anyway, tossing his bag underneath it and claiming it as his. I silently sigh in relief as I take the last vacant bunk across from him. It's a top bunk so I won't be noticed as easily by other and Tyson in PJ's was a lot less troublesome than Kai. Although I had been sleeping next to Kai for many years now. Not so much recently because of my dreams. I still wasn't sure how to deal with THAT quite yet either.<p>

Being in a church camp would make things a bit more complicated. Since well, if anyone noticed, it could end quite badly for me. Since Kai was off in a completely different cabin, there was a bigger chance that we wouldn't run into each other as much. So, my plan to separate my feelings was coming along nicely without his shadowing interference. I now had the option of approaching him when I was ready to confront everything and was not being forced into it by our close proximity to each other all the time.

Only problem with this new development was that I would be inclined to be Tyson's entertainment, since Max was also in that other cabin. This task could be easy or hard, depending mainly on Tyson's mood. I think my summer just somehow got longer. Long and angry, this was all going great so far.

"It's not that bad Tyson. Rules aside, it is still summer camp. The activities they have planned DO help with training and skill. There are plenty of things to do to pass the time and enjoy yourself. And the people seem really nice," my second attempt to cheer him up today. I tried harder this time. Although I am having trouble believing myself right now.

DO they seem nice?

The few we had met had seemed somewhat traumatized by Tyson's frolics so far.

It doesn't really matter as long as Tyson believes it. I was hoping to get lucky and pawn him off on some other poor defenseless person (victim) who didn't know him the way I do. When did I start hating Tyson so much? I feel like everything about me is messed up these days…

"Speak for yourself Ray, this bites! I can't believe someone like Max's mom could make such a mistake! She seems so much smarter than that." He buries his face in his pillow.

I sigh.

The first day was a meet and greet kind of day. The whole day was open to do as we liked (within the limits) and to get to know our fellow bunkmates. Two of the said bunkmates had already left the cabin to find the game room and meet their other friends, leaving the other two to settle in and watch Tyson's frustration grow.

Since Tyson seemed determined to be miserable and I was still a bit off from the shoe incident, I thought it might be a good time to try out my new camera. Kenny had shown me how to use it properly and we had purchased a charger so it was all ready to record our happy misadventures.

I open my bag in anticipation and find…clothes. Well of course those are in there. But where is my camera? Tyson regains interest in me as I dump my bag out and shuffle through the contents on the bed.

"Lose something?" he asks, sitting up.

"My camera…it's gone…?" Had it been in the bag with my other things? I had been pretty sure that it was in THIS bag. The other bag was my last minute things I had packed for emergency and convenience. I was sure my camera was in here. I swear, if Tyson threw my camera out the window with my bag, I may never forgi…

"They take anything electronic," a boy interrupts my thoughts from his position below me. I look down at him confused.

"Where? And when? My bag was with me the whole time…" Especially since after Tyson lost my first one I wasn't losing the rest. No way would he fool me twice!

The boy shrugs.

"It's a stupid rule but they want everyone to be faithful. Besides, there is nowhere to plug it in." The other boy left in the room with us nods.

Now that he mentions it, there really wasn't anything electronic around except the lights. Not even a vacuum. We had to use brooms and dustpans. I wonder how the girls dealt with that little inconvenience. Hair dryers had become something I was familiar with because of Hilary always hanging around. Well, kind of embarrassing, but after being introduced, I kinda started to use one too. With hair as thick as mine it was quite a blessing. I would never tell anyone though.

Oh great, I lost my brush AND I can't use a hair dryer? What is happening to my life right now?

"They take them during the bus ride. You'll get it back when you go home," he says.

"Faithful? To what? And how would a camera make me…stray?" I look between them in confusion. The first boy just shrugs again.

"Like I said, it's a stupid rule." He gets up from the bunk and turns to Tyson. "So you guys came here as a mistake?" he asks and Tyson just nods. The other boy follows him as they move across the room and closer to Tyson. "I'm Daniel. This is my brother Shawn." Tyson shakes their hands as they are offered.

"Tyson, and this is Ray." I just nod as they extend their greetings towards me.

"We only come here because our parents force us to. They think it will help save our souls or something," Daniel rolls his eyes and Shawn laughs a little. Tyson sighs and drops back to the mattress. "I heard you say you Beyblade?" All three of them brighten at this and Tyson is instantly rejuvenated, jumping back up.

"Yeah, you bet!" He's already grabbing out his blade to show them.

They join him in awe and excitement as they return the gesture. I smile as challenges are exchanged and Tyson is happily carried away by his new 'friends'.

"Wanna see if you can beat me?" Oh you poor child. When do they ever learn…?

"You can try but nobody beats my Dragoon! Come on Ray!" He jumps up and they all clamber for the door to find the 'designated area' for beyblading. Score! Operation 'lose Tyson' has worked out much easier than I had anticipated. Next, operation 'meditation' can begin!

"I'll…catch up later. I'm kinda tired after the long ride and I have to clean up the mess I just made."

"Okay! See ya later!" Their excited chatter leaves the cabin and I am finally wrapped up in the silence I had been wanting from the beginning. I begin folding up my clothes and replacing them in my bag when I come upon my own blade.

Driger…

I hadn't played publically since the last time I had embarrassed myself, faltering all over like an amateur during the last tournament just because Kai had met my eyes. I'd started leaving for private practices after that, always having some sort of excuse appropriate for missing them. The tournament was over and we weren't preparing for the new one just yet, but I still wanted to keep myself sharp. It was because the tournament was over that nobody really questioned me. I can't keep doing THAT forever. Things had to change.

"I've got to get myself under control," I ordered myself.

"The others go out?" a voice interrupted my pep talk to myself.

"Uh, yeah. I guess so." I guess so? Since when was that a guess? Come on Ray…

"I'm Chris. I'll be in charge of this cabin." He holds out his hand. Greetings seemed so formal here…

I slip Driger back into the safety of my bag and take it.

"Ray."

"Well Ray, why don't we go and find where the others went off to? No fun just sitting here alone all day. I'll show you around."

Not wanting to create any problems, I take him up on his offer. It is always nice to know your surrounding when dealing with unfamiliar territory anyway. And this was definitely high on the list of 'unfamiliar'. Tyson's complaints aside, this was going to be one interesting summer.

* * *

><p>AN: I apologize if anyone religious happens to read this and gets offended. I purposely exaggerated the religion factor because it (to me) can seem over the top sometimes. I grew up in a religious house and actually based this camp after a camp I had attended myself so anything pertaining to practices, with the exception or the isolation cabin (Parent Trap-yeah I don't own that either) was just exaggerated truth. I didn't mean anything derogatory and hope it is taken all in good fun. I had an awesome time at camp and hope that I could share some of the experiences, exaggerated or not. It was important to my plot to set it up this way.

Also, any characters that aren't from beyblade are completely fictitious. They aren't based off of anyone and don't particularly have any true meaning except to fill holes. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or its characters. Any characters that are unfamiliar are completely fictitious.

Chapter 3: Is There Something on my Face?

Around was fun.

Despite the constant feeling of being born the wrong gender, the place was actually nice. They had stables with horses you could either ride or brush, and volleyball courts, and boating. They even had this mountain with a mud slide on it where you could play Cornhole. Well their version anyway.

For those unfamiliar, Cornhole is a game where two teams compete to get as many points as possible by throwing a beanbag into a series of holes across a field. There is usually 3 different holes of different sizes and distance and each gains you a different amount of points. Their version had the two teams sliding down the hill and choosing one of the three holes which were placed at different points on the way down to throw their beanbag into. It actually looked kind of fun.

There was also a gym with a Beyblade room. The gym wasn't too extensively equipped but it had enough to stay in shape. They actually had all kinds of sports areas like air hockey, tennis, and basketball. They also had a camp fire area and a huge library. Although I assumed that most of the books inside were not every day reading books. Probably some sort of Christian study guides. I had nothing against Christian teachings or protocols myself. Sure this camp made me a bit uncomfortable at first but I was raised in an area where religion was very important and strict rules aside, I was beginning to like it. Moral duty and all that was something that I appreciated.

It seemed that their bark was worse than their bite about all that stuff too however because in just about every recreational area there were guys and girls playing games together, including tag, which, last time I checked, was a physical exchange between those playing. Granted, some girls (like that Sarah demon) seemed to be avoiding the guys and only stuck with other girls but others acted like they were all childhood friends and knew no better. One boy was even dressing in one of the girl's clothes, sporting a very lacey and flowery headband while he made fun of her and pushed her on a swing. Everyone in their little group seemed to think it was the best joke ever. Another girl even approached him and added some butterfly clips for an extra special touch. None of the councilors who were watching the area seemed to object, or maybe they hadn't noticed yet?

A hand grabs my arm as I turn away from the strange group and my attention falls on Max, a little startled to see him there. Chris, the councilor assigned to our room (for those of you who have forgotten), seems to have moved on to find the others and introduce himself and has left me in front of the main recreational building with instructions to meet up later for some kind of cabin meet and greet.

"You okay now?" Max, showing concern. I'm guessing from what happened earlier with my shoes but I had assumed nobody except Kai had even bothered to notice. I guess I was wrong. People really can surprise you.

"I should be asking you that. You guys manage to get Tyson's shoe back?" I had forgotten to ask in all the confusion as we had settled into our cabin earlier. Tyson hadn't mentioned it and I had not had the opportunity (or thought) to quite ask. Max laughs and drops his grip on my arm to brush his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, but I think it has seen better days. He'll be shoveling mud out of it for weeks!" He gestures wildly as if you exaggerate his point. "But seriously, you don't seem quite yourself lately." He looks me over critically. Something I would have feared had it been Kai but Max…was just Max.

I shrug.

"Meh, everything's cool. Wanna play a game before dinner?" I divert his attention to another subject before things get too serious, or awkward.

"Do I ever!" He drops his arms and I am relieved as he reaches for the handle to open the door to the gym. "What about our luck ending up here, eh? Would you ever had expected it?" Still as nonchalant as ever…

I didn't get to respond because as soon as the door was opened it was prevalent that Tyson had already claimed his territory. Shouts and cheers and jeers alike filled the air as confidence and victory is battled over.

"Rematch!" Shawn is pulling his brother back into the circle around the Beydish. "Come on!" Tyson is laughing his usual hubris laugh.

"Why try when you already know the results? I'll even let you 2 vrs 1 me!" Haughty as ever as well…

Daniel scoffs and pushes his brother aside.

"Somebody needs to put you back in your place! You talk big for somebody who wins by luck and slim chances." Uh-oh, that didn't sound like a good idea… It was true that on the outside Tyson seemed oblivious and well, 'lucky', but in reality he was actually quite skilled and tactical. He had some pretty amazing original ideas and was very quick on his feet to learn and adapt new techniques. Of course, we all knew that. This kid…not so much. But I like his spirit.

"Luck's got nothing to do with it!" Max chimes in, getting swept up in the rush already. Way to go Max. "But you sound like you could use another demonstration of the Bladebreaker spirit!" Ah good times. Even 2 on 1 they didn't stand a chance against Tyson, but against Tyson AND Max, this wasn't going to be pretty. How I missed the sound of trash talk and Beyblades in the morning…

My reminiscing is short lived as an arm is thrown over my shoulders and a playful nudge finds its way to my ribs.

"Ray is the one you ought to be scared of. He almost took down Kai!" Tyson brags for me. I half smile. Thanks…buddy…

"Don't be ridiculous Tys," I try to wheedle my way out of the spotlight. Since when am I this humble? I'm totally embarrassing myself…

I get another chance to try and slip away when murmurs of the 'great almighty Kai' and the World Championships start to spread around the room. Then everyone starts to ogle Tyson's blade and the insults turn into praises of how cool he is.

Sometimes I envy how easily he makes friends just by showing his superiority. It's almost insulting. Well, okay, I take that back. Underneath all that tough talk is a heart of gold. Maybe I just envy his ability to boast even after a loss. He never seems to consider the consequences of his actions at all. The Old Ray was just like that but after being through so much, The Old Ray seemed to be in the past. I liked the person I had become but it was far from the snob I used to be. The Old Ray had nothing to prove to anyone. This Ray, had so much to prove to himself. He thought about the consequences to every decision and action. I had become more like a fly on the wall. I tried to stay out of the spotlight so that I wouldn't have to pretend so much. I started to hate my own actions because they felt faked and that made me hate myself.

I was surprised that Tyson had not been effected in a similar way. He was always so innocent and naïve but even after being faced with near death experiences, he still was. He would walk through an entire building that was on fire before he even realized that his feet were burned.

Max was somewhat the same but he had an intense side. He knew how things were but he liked to pretend that he didn't because he wanted to enjoy his life, no matter what. It wasn't naivety the same way that Tyson possessed. It was more like denial.

I was too smart and calculating for those types of responses. And yet there was that part of me that still wished I was the same as them.

"The only one besides Tyson who can attract this much attention and praise, is Kai," I mutter to myself with a half-smile of admiration. I didn't envy Kai the way I envied Tyson. In fact, I admired Kai. He was a bit rough around the edges but he didn't waste his time with small talk and crowd pleasing. His goal wasn't attention. He seemed to get that as an added bonus to just being…him. And he definitely wasn't naïve. He was somewhat jaded by his past and how his life had unfolded. When he had first started hanging with us it may have been for some ulterior motive but he had grown to care about us. Even with that development, he was still Kai.

"Jealous?" his words break my thoughts as if he had been waiting for me to finish them and my eyes break away from Tyson to look at him. I'm a little taken off guard. One, because I had been in deep thought and had let my facial expression give away my feelings a bit more than I should have. And two, because I thought Kai would be off alone somewhere (anywhere) rather than in this noisy, crowded gym.

"Kai…I…No…I mean, well…uh…" Dear God I hope he hadn't been there for too long… That look I had been giving was sure to portray all kinds of easily mistaken feelings. I know it held quite a lot of fondness, and a few other things that I hardly even show openly these days. Actually, I feel like I have grown closer to how Kai used to be with us. Oh the irony! And…now that I consider it…even though I had been THINKING about Kai, I had been LOOKING at Tyson. Oh man, I hope he doesn't get the wrong idea. The last thing I need is the guy I have a crush on to think I have a crush on Tyson. What a nightmare?! "Just having a little fun," I cover up my new inner turmoil with just about the fakest smile I have ever made before. I hate myself.

"Hn. What a waste of time." My smile fades into a small frown and I go to look away, catching a glimpse of the flock of girls that was following him around whose hearts he had just broken with his condescending tone. It was a (very) small group but we were all familiar with those infatuated eyes stalking us from a mile away. It wasn't like any of us couldn't have any girl we wanted, except maybe Tyson, but we all just had better things to think about.

Right now my thoughts were on Kai and what he really meant to me and in what WAY. His thoughts…I don't really know. Maybe the first step in understanding my feelings was understanding and getting to know Kai more. If he wasn't such a mystery maybe he wouldn't be such an allure. Getting Kai in a position where he would open up that way would prove difficult though. I would have to make it seem like it was his idea, or an innocent attempt at something else. How many ways were there to go about this plan? And how many would be tricky enough to fool Kai into participating? Hmm, I seemed to have plenty of time to think about it because as quickly as he swept in, he was gone. Until next time...

"Don't get too down, Ray." Wait a minute… What?

Max has returned to my side and is patting me on the back. He goes on.

"Hey, listen, I've been trying to talk to you about this for a while now but we seem to get off track a lot. I couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable you seem around Tyson and I just want to make sure you are really okay." I open my mouth to respond but… "I know Tyson takes a lot of the attention so it's hard to reach out or break free from him but we are all still your friends and I want you to know we are here for you." I close my mouth halfway. "You know? Because we care? So whatever you've been going through, just go with it and whatever happens, we'll be there." I go to open my mouth again. "Life is about risks and adventure! You'll never start your adventure if you never open the door to new possibilities and new turns." He pats me on the back again and I just close my mouth in silence. "Don't be afraid of what people may think. You're a smart kid! I know you can handle it. Whatever it is. Okay? If you ever need to talk, find me!" He sends me the biggest smile he has, paired with a wave, as he goes to rejoin the others.

Okay so this little heart-to-heart moment was completely one sided but it still hit me where it needed to. Mainly, my confidence. Sure he had no idea what he was talking about, but I did. It was like he was an angel. And he was right.

It was simple. Instead of running from myself, I should have been getting to know me. Opening doors to new possibilities and new experiences. Being a teenager was all about finding yourself and trying new things right?

Thanks Max… I'll have to remember this incident tomorrow morning when...

"Tyson! You ready to go?!" Banging.

I roll over.

What time is it?

More banging.

A few groans are let out around me as I struggle to figure out what is happening.

Is that…Max?

Exuberant as ever.

He finally realizes that the door isn't locked and barrels in, jumping on Tyson's bunk and shaking him.

I wince, imagining Tyson's reaction but Chris pulls him off before Tyson even stirs.

"Heeeey!" Max protests.

At least three of the others are fully awake and are sitting up, rubbing the last bits of sleep away from their eyes.

"Do you know what time it is?" Hey, no fair! I asked that question first! *pout* Oh well, I was nicer about it so you can just deal with it.

"Oh course! It's 5am! Time for breakfast!" Max exclaims, throwing his hands up in an excited gesture. The three awake boys glare at him. One falls back on his bunk and tosses a pillow over his face.

"You're two and a half hours early. Who let you out?" Max frowns at the words that Chris is trying his best to calmly relay. I almost feel sorry for the blonde. _Almost_ being the operative word.

"I let myself out. Kai left first, so I thought…" Kai. There goes my stomach in knots just at the mention of his name. If I threw up right now who would it land on…? Since I'm on a top bunk it could be anyone. I wouldn't want it to be somebody I like, like Chris or that Shawn kid. He was kinda cool. The other kid was kinda cool too but I forgot his name already. And who were the others? Nikki? And…um…nope, not awake enough to recall. Hmm…

I peek over the edge of my bunk to see what's going on below it. No one in direct range. Good.

"Ray!" Uh-oh, spoke too soon.

I freeze as the glares shift to me when Max's attention (and attempted jailbreak from Chris's grip on his arm) is diverted from the elder's reprimand, to me. They all say the same thing, 'you're the owner of this vile creature of insanity?'

So of course I do what any good friend would do…

I ignore him and pretend I am oblivious to the situation.

"Who the hell is making all that noise?" Oops, I forgot to watch my language. Maybe he would let me slide since it is 5am and nobody else seems aware that there are even other people present in this room.

This thought is crushed when I get a warning glance from Chris and a few surprised looks, one of which looked more confused than surprised. They might not even realize they are not at home right now or in some freaky surreal dream…

"I mean, uh…go back to bed." I roll back over and hope that it is sufficient enough proof that I don't want to be involved in this 'mix-up' at all.

I can see Max's pouting in my mind as Chris goes on with removing him from our cabin and sending him back to his. Sorry buddy, I'm trying to make friends not enemies. Ironic part is that Tyson has slept through the entire thing so he doesn't even know just how many people probably hate HIM right now.

I feel bad for about 2 minutes before I slip back into my own little bubble.

I wonder why Kai was out so early. And how he managed to do it without being detected. Although Max made it all the way to our cabin undetected so I guess security isn't that tight at 5am… With all that energy I am surprised he didn't wake up his cabin before he made it outside. I ponder the dynamics of the whole situation as I drift back into a restless (but somewhat deep) sleep.

Two hours later…

"Tyson!" Flomp. Groan. Well that time woke him up. Heh.

"Max? What's going…? Hey! Get the hell off me!" I can just feel those looks again and am happy they aren't directed at me this time… Only fair since it should have been him the first time too.

"Tyson come on! Breakfast! I shouldn't have to tell you again!" Oh boy… Can someone just bury me now? Better yet, can I bury myself now?

I am not forgotten however as Max has successfully woken Tyson, he climbs up the side of my bunk, stepping on the kid below me (poor Nikki?), and pokes me until he knows he's gotten my attention. This kid is absolutely crazy in the morning. What could he be thinking?

Chris must have the same thoughts as me because with an exasperated but stern voice he tells Max to come back after cabin inspections.

Inspections were random. Every cabin had to be ready for inspection by 7:30am but only a few were chosen for an actual inspection. If inspection was passed on 2 random occasions a week then points were added to our cabin's overall score at the end of camp.

Oh maybe I didn't mention the points system? I must have been too caught up with other things. I'll explain it now.

Every cabin received their own points for participation, cooperation, and during morning events. There were 6 boys (or girls) and one councilor in each cabin and there was 12 cabins in total (6 boy's and 6 girl's). During morning activities, each cabin was paired with another cabin (sometimes multiple) to compete in games, and points for winning were added at the end. The boys were only pitted against the other boy's cabins and the girls against girls. The last and final event of the summer was a boys verses girls event that involved participation of the entire camp and utilization of the whole grounds, almost like a treasure hunt/obstacle course thing. The winning team in that event (either the boys or the girls) would get their points doubled and received a trophy that was kept in the camp's main display case in the library. The names of all the winners (either all the boys or all the girls) were written on a plaque that was attached to it. From looking at the previous years it seemed that the girls had a good track record with winning it too…

Points were taken away for any member's infractions or any disciplinary action that may have to be carried out to an individual or to a group. Each boy had their own points, but each cabin as a team had a separate set of points that was a collaboration of their cabin member's points.

At the end of camp the points were calculated and the cabin with the most would receive a special reward. The individual boy or girl with the most would receive some amount of money and a certificate. The details of the prizes, the amount of money, and the significance of the certificate were all a secret so that the prizes remained appealing.

I was actually curious about the whole thing but had no real interest in trying to win.

Of course Tyson had started off all on board with a competition but we all know how much he loves cleaning and responsibility so cabin inspections were not his favorite thing. He couldn't wait to get into the games though.

After meeting the kids here and realizing that it was still camp and would be fun, he had decided his life wasn't over and it wasn't the end of the world. I think we all came to similar conclusions and had just decided to run along with it, even Kai. Max said that he had even participated in their own cabin's meet and greet event, which we all thought was rather noble of him.

We all mutually (although unspoken) decided that it wouldn't be so bad after all. I think that I may have decided that a bit sooner than the others but at least we were all agreed. Either way, we were ready to face the new challenges before us.

Let the games begin!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade

Chapter 4: Beware of Dogs

"Did you think you could run forever? I've got you cornered now! Let's see you get out of this one!" Tyson laughs, sporting a smug look on his face and I cringe as he kicks the pants off his latest victim. Doesn't this ever get old?

I smile and cheer however, as the kids sustains his taunts, falters, and his blade comes to a halt on the ground a few feet away. Cheers erupt from the group of boys huddled around them and Tyson winks, laughing and going to help the poor kid up off the ground.

"Way to go Tyson!" I throw out my few words of praise and slink back out of the crowd, letting them take over. Kai is the only one with me here, since he had never bothered to even join in. He's been leaning against a tree a few feet away for the whole event. I half expected him to leave before that but he sends me a nod as he turns to do so now.

I sigh.

I had started operation "Get Kai Alone" but it was turning out to be even worse than my "Figure Out Your Feelings" plan that I had started this morning. In my attempt to do just that, I had begun by trying to hang around the enigma as much as possible. I had been trying to get a read on what triggered the feelings and how to control it. Which had just led me into some very awkward situations. Although it was my own fault for not having any common sense when he had wandered into the bathroom. I won't go into details but it was really complicated trying to convince him (and a few other random guys) that I wasn't there because breakfast had been poisoned and was making me go into anaphylactic shock.

It was the fifth day of camp and I was no closer to getting to the bottom of this than I was when I had made my resolution to do so. Ironic enough, I seemed to only being making it worse as well as distancing myself from him farther than I already had the past few months.

So I decided to take a different approach.

Which was…ignore him and act like I am having fun. At least that way the rest of the guys won't be concerned as well. Max had already been suspecting of something earlier and I didn't need to tip off Tyson too. Those two would never let me hear the end of it and would definitely ruin any chances of getting Kai alone.

"Okay kids! Break it up! What did I tell you boys about beyblading on the grounds?" a voice we've all come to recognize and (not) love tears down the huddle of boys around Tyson. Chris approaches him with a scowl that could put Kai down. Hmm, well maybe not THAT intense. Chris was still a nice guy, even if he was annoyed every now and then by Tyson's…exuberance. Kai can be a nice guy too, I think he has just had more training in being aloof and antisocial. It's a tough call.

"Don't do it inside?" Tyson plays stupid. Chris's scowls deepens. Okay, it's a REALLY tough call… I'm actually starting to get chills.

I fight the urge to shiver in the middle of the summer heat.

"No Tyson. Not during undesignated times, or in undesignated areas. This is volleyball time. Where's your ball?"

"Oh, uh…that…" Tyson rubs his head embarrassed and I try not to groan.

Our team sports had turned into another Tyson show off session when Chris had left us alone temporarily and I was beginning to hate Beyblade for being so popular. Wait, what am I saying? I could never hate Beyblade. Tyson maybe. Damn I hate Tyson for being annoying enough to make me think I hate Beyblade. I'm actually pretty good at volleyball too. It teaches coordination and power. I was looking forward to showing off my skills.

"How's Max?" Tyson changes the subject, hoping his concern is enough to make Chris drop his guard and the incident at hand.

Max was the reason we had been left unsupervised to begin with. He had tried to spike the ball and gotten a little too close to the net AND the ball. Poor Max. Not only did he get a bloody nose from smacking the ball with his face instead of his arm, he'd wrapped himself in the net so we couldn't get him out. While trying, he somehow managed to dislodge one of the poles, which smacked him in the head and knocked him unconscious.

Chris and the cabin supervisor of our opponent's (Kai and Max's) cabin had rushed him off to the nurse's cabin, leaving us here to pick up the pieces and fix the net. Tyson didn't waste any time mourning or helping before he immediately declared Beywar on everyone around. We had managed to salvage the net and set it back up but it wasn't nearly as stable as it had been, which wasn't very to start with.

"He'll be fine. The nurse said he should rest and Tyler (the other superviser) stayed with him. He'll be up and raging just like new in no time." I couldn't help but smile at the sarcasm in his voice that he was trying to hide. It hadn't taken long for him to realize how much trouble the crazy duo were.

Between Tyson and Max I think just about every councilor here was wishing they had gone to Florida for a vacation instead of volunteering here. One of them was probably enough to drive a person mad, but two of them? It was tiring just glancing at them.

Our little group consisted of 12 boys. The 6 from our cabin and the 6 from Max and Kai's cabin. I had been told their names but I couldn't remember any of them. The first 4 days we had been in competition with random people we didn't know but today it was Max and Kai's turn. Lucky them.

We hadn't seen much of them in the mornings otherwise, except for Max's daily wake up routine to get Tyson and me for breakfast. Yeah, that one hadn't made us many friends either at first but somehow Max always grows on you. The other boys in our cabin, and even Chris, had begun to enjoy it. They even made challenges with each other to see who could wake Tyson first. The things that people find interesting these days is mind baffling.

"Awe come on! You're no fun! Who wants to play stupid ol' volleyball anyway?" Tyson huffs and Chris regains control of the group, putting Tyson in a time out on the bench. He finds the ball and gets everyone reorganized.

I have to hand it to the guy, for not being much older than we are he sure knows how to keep authority.

"You don't have to worry about it because you're not. And don't let me see that beyblade again. One more outburst and it's mine until you go home," he warns Tyson with a stern look. Tyson quickly shuts up.

I take note of the presence at my side and look over as I realize that Kai has come back. It was strange to see him so cooperative but he had been a saint for most of the camp. Well, at least the parts that I saw him at.

He didn't disappear or fight with authority or say things were stupid or beneath him. He just floated along with the flow of things as if he belonged there. I wondered what that could mean since it was very uncharacteristic of him. Unless there was something in it for him. Maybe the camp leaders had made some kind of deal with him. Maybe I could ask him later.

"Hey good. I was waiting for him to come after you next," I smile at him. He 'Hn''s and crosses his arms. I send him a strange look. "Don't tell me you're gonna play with your arms crossed." I try to joke with him.

He disregards me completely and moves into his place in the row on the other side of the net, opposite me, as we all return to our positions, minus 2.

The joke is on me however as I am distracted by the sudden hurt feeling that washes over me from his snubbing. Well that's something I have never felt before… Do his remarks and attention really mean that much to me?

"Heads up!" His voice breaks through my thoughts before I have time to ponder this new development. My focus completely withdrawn for that moment, I barely dodge the ball as Kai casts it, full force, down on me over the net. "You awake in there, Ray?" a challenge, and not a nice one.

I have been here before. At our last match.

I look into those eyes and I am struck with something sharp in my heart.

I know it's just a game.

I know he's just doing what any good rival does, pushing, but something inside me wants to always believe that he belongs on my side and not opposing me.

"That's it!" The realization finally hits me and I know what it is that has been bothering me for so long. Unfortunately I don't have time to explore it as the ball once again is being brought down, full force, right at me.

This time I react in perfect timing and hit it back with my own full force.

Even more unfortunate, my full force is way too hard and the ball goes flying out of bounds and onto the other side of the grounds, the girl's side.

Now I know I have mentioned just how much is hurts to be a guy at this camp but I want you to realize the full meaning of this. As I had learned in the past few days (quickly, for sake of survival really) there was really only three girls that we had to worry about. They were like those "mean girls" from the movies. The ones that have to be worshipped by all peers and seem like nothing but perfect angels in front of authority.

Sarah (the girl who had the run-in with Tyson the first day) was their leader. And a good leader she was. If you so much as looked at her wrong she would mess you up (psychologically mostly since she refused to touch anything that even resembled a 'manly' part or anything attached to one). I'll give you three guesses as to why we had been picked as her group to torment.

Yeah.

Tyson.

Their meeting had not been forgotten or taken lightly. Whenever we were in free time and in the same vicinity really, she tried her best to make us as uncomfortable as possible. Ironically enough, nobody else seemed to notice her vendetta against. Either that or they pretended not to. They probably didn't want to get on her bad side themselves by being associated with us.

Kai managed to avoid the attention as he had a way with making himself invisible when he needed to be, but it hadn't taken her long to realize that Max and I were Tyson's friends. I had been lucky at avoiding her so far since becoming fully knowledgeable of her.

My luck might be continuing as I don't immediately see any of them in the general vicinity but because we (all the boys) had been educated in one way or another on just how terrible a run-in with these girls could be, everyone on my team is watching me expectantly.

"You hit it, you get it," Shawn says to give me a little push. I half smile, awkwardly. Thanks pal.

"Yeah…okay…" And I go off to find where it went. I pass the first group of girls and am relieved that none of them are Sarah or her posse.

I make it past the second group, so far so good.

There's the ball. Got it! See? My luck's not so bad!

I reach out to grab it and a foot stomps down on it, two seconds from crushing my hand if I had managed to actually grab the ball. I pull back in surprise.

"Looking for this?" Not Sarah, but one of her groupies. Nicole I think her name was.

I look around suspiciously.

She appears to be alone… That could be good. At least with just one I can defend myself somewhat. I hadn't had the pleasure of dealing with them first hand but Tyson's escapades involving them had all ended pretty badly. Let him tell you some of those stories. Or maybe if I have some time later I will. They are really quite…amusing.

"Um, yeah, sorry about that. I guess I hit it a little too hard…" I smile, hoping my award winning charm will crack her just a little. It hadn't worked on Sarah but groupies were always more likely to let their guard down, especially when their leader was not present. This groupie however seemed to be trained well as she picks up our ball and fixates on me with a hard stare, studying me closely as if looking for weaknesses.

"You almost hit my friend. You scared her to death." Her voice stays hard as if just her words could make me crack. Having dealt with similar experiences all my life, I wasn't that easy to break down.

"Tell her I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time." I keep up the smile but add a little force of my own so that she knows I'm not a complete pushover. Her eyes narrow and I should have been more alert but she appeared to relax a bit seemingly letting me go as she starts tossing the ball back to me. Yet, I am so focused on her and what she might try to do to me that I miss the noise behind me as another ball is pegged right at me, even quicker (and meaner) than Kai's spikes had been.

Whoever thought a bunch of girls could be quicker (and slyer) than Kai?

That is my last thought after I catch my ball, go to let out a thanks and just as I am turning around, my world goes black.

Thinking about it now if almost felt like one of those slow motion videos. I knew what was happening but by the time I fully understood, it was too late to do anything about it. I would have to work on my game better.

"Awe man, two in one game! That has to be a record!" Tyson.

"Ray faints a lot during games. Maybe he should see a real doctor when we get home." Max.

"Hn." Kai.

"I don't think this could be considered fainting, Max, that girl is just a demon. I dunno how they even let her in here."

"Oh, come on Tyson, she can't be that bad. Sure she doesn't seem to like you very much but she can't be a demon. There has to be a rule against that or something. Right Kai?"

"Hn."

"No way Max, have you seen her! I ran into her in the lunch line once and I nearly took a whole table of girls out when she tripped me! She's an absolute demon. No question!"

"Tyson I think you have been watching too many movies. I never should have showed you how to use the TV." Laughter.

"Hn."

"W…What…?" I try my best to focus on what's happening around me.

"Oh he's waking up! He's still alive! Hide the mirrors though, that bruise is worse than the one Bryon gave him at the World Championships."

"Shut up Tyson, that's mean! He's doesn't look THAT bad."

"Are you two done?" Silence.

I try to blink my eyes open but they don't seem to want to work. I hear rustling but otherwise the voices stay strangely silent for what seems like a lifetime. I try to open my eyes again, managing a crack but it seems like too much of a struggle as a sliver of light breaks my head open into a more intense headache than the one I already had.

"He was just waking up, Kai! You must have scared him back to sleep!"

"I don't think Ray would be THAT afraid of Kai, Tyson…"

"Maybe he thought those girls were back. They could have disguised themselves as Kai just to get back at him more!"

"Tyson, get real. You watch too many movies." More laughter.

"Just shut up!" Silence.

"Can you boys just wait outside for me? Max should be okay to leave now and Ray just needs a bit of rest. They are probably serving dinner now." An unidentified female voice calmly intervenes.

"Awe man, but I wanna see if he's okay! Those girls will have something to say to me when I get ahold of them! Hurting my friend like that. He wasn't even the one who…" the voice is cut off as I hear a door close and the female voice lets out a sigh of relief.

"Oh!" Startled. "I didn't realize you were still here." A pause. "You seem less likely to cause him any more stress so I'll let you stay with him for a bit but please come get me if he wakes up fully. I have to check the rest of his injuries." I can almost hear the smile in her voice as she nods and leaves the room as well.

Then it really goes silent once again and I am unsure if I have been left completely alone or not. I feel something press on my forehead and that theory goes out the window.

The fingers moves from my forehead to the side of my face, gently pressing at certain points, then lingering for a moment, then they push my hair back behind my ear. I wince as the last movement brushes over (what I imagine is a really big bruise) where the ball had impacted my face.

I hear a snort and the hand is withdrawn.

Kai…

I still feel the tingles it has left behind. Who knew his touch could be so gentle? I had barely felt it at all as it had been exploring my wounds carefully.

"So you ARE awake." I imagine his smirk. I open the eye on the good side of my face. Lucky for me it's the side he happens to be standing on. I smile back at him weakly.

"Y…yeah…kinda. Ugh. My head feels like a blender ate it." My hand moves to the swollen bruise to feel just how serious it is and I close my eyes again at the sudden pricks of pain. "Why are you still here?" I stretch my jaw out to see how far the pain branches and find that it doesn't seem as bad as it could have been. I have totally been through worse during training, which is really only a portion of what I endure during championships. So this is nothing really.

"Checking you for a fever. I wanted to make sure you didn't have a concussion." I blink and adjust to the pain of the light, and try to sit up.

"Well I don't see any spots… But isn't there a nurse for that?" I look over at him as he takes a seat and tosses me an ice pack, his examination having come to a conclusion. His eyes still survey the rest of my body and my movements carefully. The intense look causes me blush but I am hoping the bruise and possibility of fever can cover it up.

In the movements I use to sit up straighter I realize that not only does my head and face hurt like I had been hit with a sledgehammer, my arm and right shoulder also give way to a bit of discomfort.

"You hit the concrete with your shoulder as you went down. It saved you from hitting your head twice. You were lucky you didn't break anything," Kai explains as if reading my thoughts from the look on my face. I nod in understanding, fidgeting with the ice pack in my lap as I watch him a minute. I let everything settle into my brain.

I go over the situation again in my head and wonder if there would have been a way to avoid this. No matter how I turned it over, it all ended the same.

Those girls were trouble.

Maybe Tyson, Max and I would have to team up to fight against them before all of us were sent home with broken bones and bruised egos.

"Is Max...?" I start, but he looks up from studying me and meets my eyes, catching me up in another moment where my heart skips a beat. I hoped he didn't notice that my breathing had suddenly become heavier or he might think something else was wrong.

Luckily, he doesn't seem to notice my heart speeding up or my breathing as he nods.

"Nothing's broken on him either." End of discussion. His eyes don't leave mine yet though and I can't help but feel as if he is searching for something in them.

As if I am risking him finding that something, I look down. I take that moment to realize that we are finally alone together and now might be my only chance to talk to him the way I had wanted to.

"Can I ask you something?" I start, not quite sure how I am going to finish. I half expect him to brush me off again or to have some other kind of distraction the way that we always do, but it doesn't happen that way at all.

"Sure." I continue to avoid his eyes but feel my face start to heat up again because I can feel his still fixated on my face, waiting for what I have to say.

The easiest way to get this over with is to just blurt it out, but thinking about it now, it was probably the worse time to initiate this particular conversation. I had no way of escaping if it took an awkward turn and it would put him in a position where he held all the power. Not that that was any different than normal, but in this situation, for me to go through with it, I would have to feel like I was in control. I wasn't even sure how I was going to go about it but his eyes on me, waiting, was starting to make me panic.

"I know...that the situation has changed a lot since the beginning…"I start out carefully, hoping to gain confidence by building it up. "But…" I pause again, considering my wording before jumping into something that I couldn't get out of. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I was just wasting his time or trying something tricky on him. I couldn't put him in a position where he felt threatened, and I couldn't put myself in a situation where I felt more vulnerable than I already did. "…do you ever think that…or maybe, have you ever thought about…" This wasn't good. I was losing my ground and his attentiveness. He had seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say before, now he looked as if he was losing his patience.

"Just spit it out, Ray," he coaxes me calmly. He is trying to hide his annoyance for the sake of me being injured but I can tell that that pass won't be available for much longer.

"Have you ever felt like a part of the team?" I burst it out quickly, but having it out has given me the momentum I had anticipated earlier in going further. "I mean, not just for the sake of winning. But for us. As friends?" The words stop with the question lingering in the air between us and his expression doesn't change, nor does he answer exactly on cue.

To me, the words sound like a cover-up for something else I had wanted to ask instead so even I am taken aback by where they had come from exactly. Although that isn't entirely true.

When he had challenged me earlier with that ball, I had felt it. The separation from us and him.

Sure he always seemed to tag along with us but it wasn't like it was out of loyalty. If it was something else, I wasn't sure. But it made me question our relationship. Not just the relationship that I shared with him personally, but his with Max and Tyson as well. He never seemed happy to be palling around with them. And he wasn't doing it for the spotlight because he had his own. Even after Tyson had taken it from him, he still got more praise than all of us combined.

His skill was unmatched by anyone.

When I first noticed that I had grown an attachment to him (that was more than just a shining friendship), it was that detachment from us that kept me from accepting it. I couldn't have feelings for Kai. He had no side, no team. To build a more personal relationship with him would be a mistake knowing that he would never chose to stay on one side.

So yes, I had to know if he ever felt like he was on our team, but it wasn't what I really wanted to know. It was only a small part of it.

If he realized this as well, he didn't let on that he did. He just crossed his arms and stood up.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Sarcastic, but not meant to be mean. I look up to meet his eyes again and not having been completely shut down, I surprise myself with my next step.

"Then, what do I mean to you? Am I…just a friend?"

Did I…just say that out loud?


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade blah blah blah…

Chapter 5: One for All and All for Three

"We have to slide down that thing?!" Tyson's outbursts have returned as we all look down the giant hill. I had mentioned it on the first day here but the intensity of it was a lot higher when you were standing at the top being told that we were racing down it.

They had hoses and two of those slip-and-slide mats leading down the great hill to the bottom, where a huge mud pit (that was supposed to be avoided) awaited us. Those not quick enough to get out of the way before hitting the mud had points deducted from their final score. It was the first time we were playing a sport that actually involved the possibility of getting a little messy.

I was still sporting a beautiful black eye, courtesy of the "mean girls" and was hoping to not make any more beauty marks on this trek down the hill, which had the potential to be really dangerous if not done properly. It was becoming more a light brownish blue but was still hard to look as if I caught myself in a mirror.

I was doing well at pretending it wasn't there and acting like I didn't notice the way people couldn't stop eying it when they talked to me.

Ah, the troubles of war.

The incident with Kai was still plaguing me as well. I suppose it wasn't really an incident because it didn't really have any repercussions but it was still unresolved and I felt somewhat exposed having it remain as such. I had practically asked Kai if he had feelings for me, or if he COULD have feelings for me, which was just like asking a rock if it could swim

The answer being an obvious 'hell no' but in asking it, I had put myself and my own feelings way out there. He hadn't ACTUALLY answered because before his pondering (possibly confused) mind could react or respond the nurse had returned to check the rest of my wounds and he had been ushered out.

Max and Tyson had visited to bring me some dinner before lights out but it was a quiet night with no visitors after that. I had been released the next morning with a cold compress and a few aspirin but was not doing so badly after the initial headache had subsided a little.

Kai had seemed to ignore everything, or not realize what I had been asking, because he was STILL acting as if nothing was different. His 'outsider' attitude was really starting to get to me since it only seemed a problem when I actually WANTED him around. I had hoped I could at least apologize and brush the question under the rug so things could be less awkward for me but I hadn't had a chance to approach him yet. He had been at breakfast but with Tyson there it was hard to get a word in edgewise.

I had been anticipating that since all the groups were participating in this particular event that I would have some time to catch him. The boys were the only ones participating in this game, for obvious reasons, but he seemed to be nowhere in sight.

Max, sporting a similar scrape, except higher and much less prominent (totally covered easily with a band-aide), was trying to decide if he could belly flop down the hill instead of coasting it the easy way. Sliding and remembering to throw the bean bag might prove difficult from an angle so close to the ground though. Silly Max...

Tyson, after seeing my lovely new look, had decided that from then on we were going to stand up for ourselves and throw back whatever we could to put those girls in their place. This had gotten us some wearied looks but after a day of blinding pain (and humiliation), I was ready for my own retaliation. It probably wasn't what Tyson had in mind but I had my own way of getting even. If my run-ins with Bryon had taught me anything it wasn't to feed fire with more fire. My plan was a little unfinished but I had plenty of time to work out details. And it would distract me from vexing over my other prominent thoughts.

"It looks like fun Tys! Just give it a try. Maybe you'll find it a new challenge," I smile, counteracting the effects of my injury on interactions.

"Where's Kai? Why doesn't he have to do this? I have had my share of fun with mud already…" Tyson huffs, reference his shoe ordeal.

Update on that, since I'm not sure if I have before. Tyson had let the mud dry so he could break it off more easily but had to borrow a shoe from the lost and found while he waited. He had been running around with mismatched shoes for three days before his was finally able to be used. Which made me smile a little but I was still angry that I only had light walking shoes and we were in the woods.

I ended up borrowing a pair of boots that Max had brought since he liked to over-pack and had three pairs. I swear if he were a girl, the world would be in need of bigger houses. That boy has everything! Threefold.

"He had an altercation with our cabin leader earlier and was sent to see the councilor in the main office," Max explains. "It was just a misunderstanding though so I'm sure he'll be out soon."

"What did he do?" I took a sudden interest, finding it odd that this was the first time Kai had had any type of 'altercation'. It seemed well placed in the timing category.

Was he avoiding me after all? He had seemed pretty normal at breakfast…

"Well he…"

"Enough chitchat boys. Get to your marks!" Chris bellows, ushering everyone over to the mats. My curiosity (and questioning) would have to wait until a better time.

"Come on Tyson, I bet you can't beat me!" Max tries to get Tyson to lighten up again when he realizes that he's up first and starts to gripe again.

The games begins.

As crazy as it sounds, the game was actually quite challenging and fun at the same time. I wouldn't go putting it on my list of things I would choose to do willingly for fun, but all-in-all I was happy that we got to do it and I had managed to avoid the mud for the most part so I wasn't completely covered in it.

Max had slipped and fallen a little too hard his second time around and managed to knock over one of the goals before skidding into the mud so Tyson had ended up beating him after all.

Once the first plunge had been made, Tyson had become all gung-ho about continuing. He even grumbled when we were told it was time to go clean up in the showers and change. So all of us were corralled into the showers and then off to lunch.

After lunch was our break before dinner so the three of us had all gone to our usual free time area, the game room. A lot of the areas were filled at first so we were off to the side, sitting at a table and waiting for something to open up while discussing what we had planned to do about our "problem".

"I say we forget about them. We only have two weeks left. I don't want to end up in the hospital because we decided to mess with the wrong people." Max always seems to be the one trying to avoid unnecessary turmoil. Which seems ironic to me since he also seems to be the one most involved in it. Maybe that's why he chooses to avoid it if he has a choice.

"Two weeks is a long time Max. You might end up in the hospital anyway if we let them have their way!" Tyson interjects.

If you hadn't guessed, they were back to the subject of the girls and their vendetta against us.

As if on cue, the three of them enter and scare some unsuspecting boys away from the air hockey table. Nicole catches my eye and winks but not in a cutesy 'I think you're swell' kind of way but in a 'looks like I got you good' way.

I bury my face in my arms, which are crossed on the table.

"Don't hide Ray! That's a sign of weakness!" Tyson taps me to get me back involved. I growl a little and roll my eyes, burying my head lower. Tyson was trying to get us all killed. I could just feel it. "I'm gonna go show her right now!" He gets up and before Max or I can grab him, he stalks over to the air hockey table and slaps his hands down. This not only gets their undivided attention but everyone else's in the room as well. "Hey! What makes you think you can just push everyone around?!" he demands. Sarah eyes him critically before crossing her arms and sticking her nose up.

"And who do you think YOU are?" she asks casually. Already the room has quieted to see what might happen between the two of them. Max rushes over and I reluctantly follow, hoping (and praying) that this wouldn't end how I expected it to.

"I challenge you to a game. If I win, you leave us alone. If you win, we'll leave the camp." Uh-oh. From the look on her face I think she knows something that he doesn't.

She smirks. Suddenly this seems rather nostalgic…

"Okay. But not right now. It's been a long day and we're busy…" she snubs him and I can see him physically shaking from annoyance. Max puts a firm hand on his arm and pulls him back a bit. Tyson growls and throws his hands up.

"Fine. Tomorrow. Same time, same place. I'll even let you choose the game." Bad idea. Bad, bad idea… How did he expect us to leave the camp if we lost? We can't exactly steal a bus or something. She is highly amused and seems to accept the challenge, further sealing our fate. Seriously. What is he THINKING?!

"I have a better idea," she cooes. "I'll give you until Friday so you boys can prepare. Friday is the Capture the Flag game. The whole camp plays, boys verses girls, you know." She shrugs in a manner to indicate that this was common knowledge. "If you win, we'll leave you alone. If we win, we get anything we want from you. I wouldn't want to see you boys have to walk all the way back to wherever you came from. Something tells me you'd get lost." She makes a similar 'hn' movement to how Kai does and looks to Tyson for confirmation. Yeah, definitely nostalgic.

This idea seemed much fairer than his idea and less confrontational on our part, so I was begging him with my eyes to accept it. We would just have to figure out what this "Capture the Flag" thing was in detail… But with a little team work, I knew it would work to our advantage. Nobody could beat us as a team.

Tyson withdraws and nods.

"Agreed. Truce until Friday then." Tyson holds out his hand to confirm the acceptance.

She smirks again, completely ignoring the gesture.

"Well…I never said that." With the most devilish smile as her only answer, she tilts her head for her friends to follow and they all move to exit. "If you make it until Friday, I'll even throw in a little something extra." A snort. "Later boys." And they're gone. The room lets out a unanimous sigh of relief and a group of boys who Tyson had made friends with, flock to him.

"You have no idea what you just agreed to!" one of them gushes. They all spout out similar responses and quickly explain that in the 7 years that those girls had been attending this camp, they had never lost the Capture the Flag game.

Ever.

Remember my experience with a volleyball? Apparently this Capture the Flag game consisted of many more incidents like that. Some boys had even been air-shipped home because their injuries were so bad. They had all been deemed accidents so the group leaders hadn't done anything to stop the girls, but all the boys knew it was them.

This was going to be fun…

Makes you wonder why they didn't remove the event altogether. Apparently it was some sort of tradition and in a contract or something. I dunno, some weird technicality. And what might be our grave.

I thought this camp was supposed to be a vacation!

Tyson doesn't seem the least bit concerned as he has taken over the air hockey table and challenged Max and a few other boys into a 'first lose, first out' competition. Which didn't seem such a bad idea. I stood watching for the first few battles but decided to switch in after seeing how much fun they were all having. It was better than worrying over what to expect from the girls or where Kai was.

Wait, I had never asked Max what had happened again. Now was my chance since it was me against him up next.

"Hey Max, you never finished telling us what happened to Kai," I kindly remind him as he gets ready to take his first shot. He smiles and jumps up.

"Oh yeah! You guys will find it pretty funny!" As our game starts the curiosity builds.

"Why don't you just tell us already?" Tyson chimes in, his interest peaked as well.

"I have a better idea." Uh-oh, is it those girls again? They sounded more like…

"Kai?!" Tyson and I exclaim together. "How long have you been here?" Tyson continues. The blue-haired boy approaches the table and a few of our onlookers vacate, not being as interested in him as we were. He shrugs.

"So, what's the idea?" Max asks, getting in a hit while I had been distracted. Curse him!

"I'll tell you the story if you beat me." We both stop our game to look at him.

"Is it really that bad? It's not like you to be shy, Kai," Max goes on. Him being the only one who knows what happened, I assume the challenge wasn't meant for him anyway. But it was a bit odd. I twist my face into a thinking look and take a step away from the table.

"You want to battle the both of us?" I question as Tyson looks just as thoughtful.

"Well you know, the more you build it up like that the more I wanna know. I'll take him if you're not interested, Ray." Tyson grabs my handle before I can object. Kai nods and takes Max's.

"It only counts if you both win," he announces, taking his position opposite Tyson.

"First one to 12 wins," Tyson explains, just in case he was uneducated in the dynamics of air hockey. "Winner moves to the next round. But you better watch out Kai, it's almost dinner time so I want to get this done quick!" As if to prove his point, Tyson scored the first 6 points uncontested.

From watching Kai's movements he seemed to be calculating something, or figuring it out. I was a bit baffled by this since Kai wouldn't usually start something that he wasn't completely familiar with. I had assumed he had known how to play but I suppose there was always a possibility that he had never done so before.

After the 7th point for Tyson, he started to get his bearings and scored 4 without Tyson even blinking. But it was a little too late because Tyson lead was ultimately what kept him ahead. They ended up 12 to 10 in the end. When Tyson scored the final 12th point, EVERYONE was surprised. Kai's quick movements were hard to follow but Tyson was quick to adapt to them as well. Having battled Kai before he had already known what to expect out of the other boy.

"Good game, Kai! Now spill it!" Tyson pats him on the back and lets his arm linger for a few moments before Kai smirks and shakes him off.

"I said, it only counts if you BOTH win," his challenge extends to me as our eyes meet. I send him an inquiring look as I am trying to decide what his end game is. Having had Tyson to warm up, it wouldn't be so easy to beat him now. There had to be something else to this little game of him.

"What do YOU get out of this?" I ask as my other two friends are cheering me on with their excitement.

"You can do it, Ray!"

"Lose and find out," he replies slyly.

I don't like his tone. It is sending shivers down my spine and I am not quite sure I want to find out where all this is going.

Did this also have something to do with what I had asked him yesterday? Had he gone from avoiding me to openly wanting me to humiliate myself?

Kai wouldn't do that…would he?

Hmm, there was only one way to find out.

"I won't lose that easy," I regain some of my courage as I try to think of the different things this could mean.

For the first time in months, looking him in the eyes was not making me want to swoon or hide or anything remotely fleeting. It could have been my recent realizations or it could have been the challenge itself. It was quite dynamic for anything I would have thought to do. He was trying to tell me something. But what? And was losing the only way I would find out?

I couldn't just lose. That would be stupid and obvious. I had to try my best to show him that I wasn't just playing games either. Even more so, that I wasn't willing to be played with if it meant he would exploit me. For some reason, seeing him toy with me in this way made me more angry than afraid.

Somehow, I think he was betting on that.

The game wasn't easy by any means. In fact, neither of us scored for a good ten minutes. People actually started to lose interest and leave as it grew closer and closer to the dinner bell. Tyson even yawned and seemed to lose interest himself, which was strange for him since he was always pumped up about competitions.

We were too evenly match.

"I say first one to score wins and we'll call it a day," Tyson yawns again. Max laughs and a few of the other boys who were still hanging around shrug as if in agreement. The puck is on my side so I hold it and meet Kai's eyes as if to ask him if that's fair enough. He holds my gaze and I think I catch a glint in his eye as he's scheming something new.

"I don't mind. But that raises the stakes quite high don't you think? Think you can handle it, Ray?" He tests me to see if I am still paying attention to what he had laid on the lines here.

It was true that leaving it up to one point-one win that anyone was at a higher disadvantage, but he was at the same disadvantage. It was also true that in the past, and even right now, he had shown himself formidable but I felt I had more to lose in this situation than he did so my will to fight had to have been stronger. Either way, I wasn't about to let him think he could win just by intimidating me.

"Game on." I narrow my eyes and concentrate as I start the game all over again.

Oddly enough, it's the dinner bell that distracts me for the split second that Kai needed to gain his advantage. If it had been planned one second sooner or one second later, I would have been the one smirking and crossing my arms as I claimed the victory. Instead, I'm cursing and hating myself for losing my concentration so easily.

"Awe, good game anyway, Ray! Now let's go eat!" Tyson takes off like a bullet with Max in quick pursuit after giving me a comforting pat on the back.

How did I let this happen? It was just a game over some stupid story but for some reason I felt like I had lost something so much bigger. Every challenge with Kai in these past few months had felt like that. Like he had some ulterior motive. Something that he was getting out of me but wasn't letting me in on. Why was he testing me?

I sigh and put my paddle down.

"What is it that you want, Kai?" I ask, still beating myself up a little.

I am ready to take my punishment with as much dignity as I can.

I wait to hear something devious like announcing my love for him in front of everyone or becoming his personal servant for a week. Or something spiteful like leaving him alone from now on or forcing me to do something that would make me uncomfortable. I hadn't thought Kai to be much for spite but the way he had gone about challenging me with those looks and digs, I wouldn't put it past him now.

What I hadn't expected at all what was actually came out of his mouth.

"Hit me." I look up from my brooding to send him the most puzzled look I could ever make.

"W…What?" I glance around the room to see if anyone else had heard him, and perhaps to confirm my insanity, but the room is somewhat empty now. Those that happened to be staggering behind the others are not paying attention to us.

I turn back to him and his look is unwavering.

"Hit me," he repeats.

Okay, I didn't hear him wrong.

I shake my head, incredulous.

"No way. You can't be serious."

"Come on, Ray. You made a deal with me. I expect you to follow through."

"You ARE serious? What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you ask me to do THAT?" The rising of my voice does attract some of the lingering people and he ignores my questions to look away and start his own way to the door.

"I'll be waiting for whenever you are ready." He sends a small wave over his shoulder as he exits the room and leaves me standing there, still contemplating what the hell just happened.

None of that made sense AT ALL. And even following what I knew about Kai, there was no reason to believe that this was legitimately what he had been after with all those prods. Just what was he up to?


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade :)

Chapter 6: What Goes Around Comes Around

"This bug spray smells really sweet! Not like that gross stuff we usually use. Where do you think they get it?" Tyson inquires as we are preparing for a nature hike.

Today's event was a scavenger hunt. Whichever group deciphered the clues and collected their items first, after returning to the main building, would get to decide what we would we eat for lunch and the losing group had to cook it.

Since I am pretty used to cooking for large groups (Tyson) I wasn't too motivated about winning. Either way would work for me. Tyson on the other hand, was ready to charge. He had even well prepared himself with all his nature tools. Which, to be honest, I have no idea where he got or where he learned how to use.

Am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this?

"I dunno Tys, maybe you could ask later," I respond, not really giving him my attention.

I had been plagued all night into making plans to figure out what was going on with Kai that I hadn't had much sleep. My first plan had been to confront Kai openly, but there were risks in doing that in public and there weren't many places we would be alone. Talking about hitting people, or anything else that needed to be discussed between us would most likely get a few head rolls. I had made that Plan B. My second plan had been to fake another injury and hope that he would repeat the same actions as before and come to my aide. Chances of that happening were very slim to none, so I had moved that to plan E. My next plan had involved less sense as I had been awake for several hours past my normal bed time and had forgotten what I was trying to accomplish in the first place and had been designated Plan Z. I really needed to work more on my Plan A's. You would think they should be a lot easier…

I had been in such a fog from lack of sleep that I don't even remember going to breakfast but here we were getting ready to go hiking so I imagine we had already come back from there. I hope it was something decent.

I was deciding whether to bring my own bag just in case I had to save Tyson, but they had given us each a rope, a compass, and a water jug, so I had been wondering if it was supposed to be some sort of survival challenge too. We had been given permission to pack our own things as well but depending on how long we would be out there, having extra baggage to carry could just slow us down.

"Do you want some?" He offers me the can of bug spray. I shake my head.

"No thanks, I'm used to being in areas like this. My village is very similar so it doesn't really bother me." I smile as if to confirm my decision. He shrugs and tosses the can in the bag with the rest of his 'supplies'.

"Well, if you change your mind later…" He gets up to leave. "You know, Ray. You should be more excited about this. These kinds of puzzles are what you are good at right?" He walks over to me as I jump down from my bunk and pull on the shoes Max had loaned me so we can join the others waiting outside.

Tyson wasn't wrong. Normally I would be really eager about this type of challenge. My mind was just too focused on a different challenge to really care. That and I was overly tired. This trip was getting to be way too much mental effort.

"I suppose…"

"Your face looks better too! You can hardly see it anymore!" He pats me on the back and pushes me out the door. "Cheer up buddy! This will be great!"

Since each cabin had a different set of clues and items to collect, we didn't have to worry about items not being there if another cabin got there first, so it was all in how fast we would figure out our set of clues. We broke up into groups of 2. A divide and conquer kind of thing. We split the clues up between the three groups so we could get everything done quicker since each item had its own separate set of clues to follow and there were three of them. We were instructed that this was allowed but we always had to stay with our partner just in case we got lost. It was supposed to build teamwork and trust or something but without telling us that that is what they were doing. We were supposed to figure that out ourselves.

Being the competitor that Tyson is, he had chosen the different way and decided that he just HAD to beat our teammates as well. He even made a bet with the others that if we won we wouldn't have to join in in cabin cleanup time for the rest of camp. That's probably why he was so 'prepared' for this.

We won or lost as a team regardless of which of us made it to the end first or last, since we really all had to be there for it to count as a win, but it was building animosity between us and lessening our chances of winning since we chose to fight each other instead of working together toward the goal.

Telling that to Tyson wasn't worth the amount of breath it would take though.

All in all, dividing the tasks was a somewhat smart idea regardless of the disadvantage it presented. If they were all of equal difficulty, we could all return around the same time and well before the others if they hadn't thought the same way. Having not seen the clues first hand I couldn't make a good judgment call on our tactics success rate but we had a pretty smart group…I think. Knowing that a few of them had probably done this before and knew their way around a lot better might put us father apart but we were pretty good competition under worse circumstances so it would at least be interesting.

"Everybody ready?" Chris gathers our attention. "I've given everyone their clues. If by any chance you can't figure it out by 11:30, return to the main building without them. Besides what I already gave you, I am also giving you a whistle, and a watch. If you get lost, or can't make it back in time, use it. When the watch says 9, go. I will see you all at the end. And please try not to fight too much. If you run into any of the boys from the other cabins, be civil. Our rules still apply even if you are out of our immediate surveillance." A few of us nod and he seems satisfied with that. "Good luck!"

"Gee, I hope we run into Max! He loves riddles!" Tyson starts once the time comes for us to depart and we are walking through the woods in search of the first destination. He has read the first clue about three times but hasn't given any indication of even knowing what it says. I have just been blindly following him as he leads me in no particular direction. We weren't walking for very long but I could no longer hear the other boys chattering away as they went off on their own searches.

"Don't you think we should have known where we were going before leaving? And you DO realize that Max isn't on our team right?" I laugh at his confused look. He frowns.

"Yeah I suppose you're right… But I don't really care about that as long as we beat the others! I really hate cleaning." He makes a face of horror and I laugh again. Oh Tyson… It was kind of nice to be away from the others in the quietness of the woods. This was a kind of quiet that I hadn't been around in quite some time. Probably not since I HAD been home. I had forgotten how much I missed it. "Well let's see, this has to be a donut. Where do you think we would find one of those out here?"

"A donut? Really? Let me see it…" I look at him skeptically. He hands over the piece of paper. It is a small piece of paper with 4 pictures, a few plus signs, a minus sign, and a couple of letters on it. "I think this is a word puzzle." I tilt my head to the side. "That DOES kind of look like a donut though. Maybe it's like a tire, or a tree stump? That doesn't really help either. Sorry Tyson…"

"No wait! I think I remember something! This way!" He drags me off in another random direction before I can protest.

After about 20 minutes of following him and wondering where he could be taking us, I notice that he seems to be fidgety.

"Are you sure you know where we are going?" I finally question him. He starts shifting uncomfortably as he walks and then looks distraught for a moment, but continues onward as if suddenly remembering something he had forgotten.

"Yeah, it's right up here. I promise!" I watch him warily but let him continue anyway. It's only when I notice that the number of bugs flying around seem to be concentrated on going in his general direction that I try to get his attention again.

"Hey Tyson…where did you get that bug spray from earlier?" I instantly think the worst as he starts swatting away at things that I can't see from my distance away from him. He's concentrated on the task at hand and doesn't seem to notice my concern.

"The bug spray? I found it in the cabin near my bunk after breakfast. I think Chris must have left it. Why?" Before I can answer, he steps into a clearing. "Here! Could this be the donut thing?!" He motions excitedly.

I can't see what he is indicating but am fearfully aware of a buzzing sound approaching from that direction and I quickly pull him back away from where he has started walking.

"We have to go back," I order him sternly.

"But what about the donut? I think it's right h…"

"Now Tyson!" I pull his arm harder and start to move away as quickly as possible as the buzzing grows more threatening. He's not quite sure what is going on at first but then he sees the swarm of bees that are furiously headed our way and starts running in the opposite direction of them, almost tripping me as he passes and takes the lead again.

"Where did they come from and what do they want?" he calls after me as we look for a safe path back to camp while trying not to slow down.

"I think they want you. And I am willing to bet that bug spray wasn't from Chris at all but was from those girls." I try to explain.

"What?! You can't be serious!"

"We have to find water and wash it off quickly. Out here you are like a free buffet for bugs if it is some kind of fragrance meant to attract them."

"Ahhhh! This can't be happening!" Tyson takes off, running faster, and I lose him in the trees. Having lost track of the trail and any signs of other people, I realize that I am completely lost and feel like I am spinning in circles. I should have been paying more attention to which way we had been going earlier. And Tyson has all the equipment and the whistle. Great. I knew something like this was bound to happen. I should have listened to my instincts.

"Tyson! Wait!" I slow down now that the buzzing has faded and look around for any signs of which direction he might have gone. Only silence is my answer. "Tyson?!" Now what? "Is anyone out there?" I try catching the attention of anyone within hearing range. More silence. I stop walking and listen. "I hope there aren't any bears out here…" Well, I guess I shouldn't dawdle waiting to find out. Tyson will find his way out and tell the others to come back for me. I should at least retrieve the item we were supposed to get so it wasn't a total waste.

I start back in the direction Tyson had taken us before, hoping that he hadn't been wrong. I spot the clearing and approach it cautiously. In the clearing off to the side, there is a burnt car.

That seems…out of place. What is it doing here? And how did Tyson know about it?

On the car was a white envelope that showed up brightly against the darkness of the burns.

Hmm, well he had been correct it seems.

I check around for the bees nest and find them nesting high above me a bit off to my left. Having lost the scent that stirred them into violence the first time, they were no longer threatening and I let out a breath. I catch sight of something moving out of the corner of my eye and turn back to the strange car. Behind the car, I see that the movement is some really brightly colored clothes passing through the trees on the other side of the clearing, and assume that it must be Max. Nobody else would wear clothes quite so obnoxious… I suppose moments like these are when this is actually helpful.

I take a step forward to call out to him, being relieved that I finally found life out here, but then I spot Kai, as well at the other boys from his cabin, walking with him. They were all talking excitedly amongst each other, except for Kai who was just following from a few paces behind them.

I guess their group had taken more of an actual 'group' excursion.

I still want to call out to them but I hesitate. Max might not care if I tag along, but the rest of his group, I wasn't so sure. And I didn't want to get anyone in trouble. Especially myself. I had no idea what kind of consequences getting lost would have. Although if Tyson told, I wouldn't really avoid those anyway. It was just a misunderstanding right?

I watch them silently as they pass and start to go off deeper into the woods on that side, waiting for them to leave so I can venture out and get the next clue without them seeing me. If I go slowly, but quickly enough I might be able to follow them back to camp without them even knowing I was there.

I dart over to the car and grab the white paper that is taped to it, then slip into the trees near where I had seen them go. I can hear their low chatter and let it guide me, keeping my distance, as I open the envelope.

_For some, I am used to get around._

_I never even touch the ground._

_Sometimes I fall and sometimes I float,_

_If I'm in the air, then take note._

_What am I?_

"What?" I stare at it blankly.

My walking slows as my mind starts processing the words more closely. I am so concentrated on the puzzle that I forget to pay attention to my surroundings and stumble over a tree root. I close my eyes and brace myself for the impact but I fall into something warm and soft instead of hitting the ground. My heart seems to realize what it is before I do and starts its rapid dance as I open my eyes to find out.

"Kai?" I move away quickly and straighten myself, trying to hide my face as it heats up. "Where did you…?"

"I thought you were an animal." Ah that explains it. Not really. He still shouldn't have left his group. Especially to pursue an animal. Didn't he know that was dangerous?

"But you're not supposed to leave the others! Nobody was supposed to…"

"You seem to be alone." He crosses his arms and eyes me critically. I laugh nervously.

"Ah, I suppose I am. Funny story actually…" I avoid his eyes and shuffle my feet. "It's really not that interesting though." Then I brighten, seeing an opportunity. "Actually. Hey! Do you know which direction I should go to get back? I kinda got lost." He studies me a minute then nods his head in the direction his group had been heading. "Oh thank you so much." I breathe out a sigh of relief. I wouldn't have to rely on Tyson anymore. Sorry Tys.

We start walking back together but neither of us says anything. The silence seems to be growing louder the more it goes on and my mind starts thinking a million things. What should I say? What should I do? Am I supposed to confront him now? Should I wait until we are back to start worrying about that again? Should I even worry at all? He doesn't seem to be thinking about it himself. In fact, he seems quite calm. It's kind of cute actually. Being out somewhere peaceful like this seems really befitting of him. I wondered if the reason why he hadn't been causing too much trouble here was because he enjoyed it. Looking at him now, he seemed to be. A person could never really tell with Kai though. Focus Ray! I might miss the opportunity if I don't do it now. But is this even the right time? I haven't even thought about how to bring it up or what I should say. I should think faster. I…

He suddenly stops walking and turns back to me.

"If you keep going that way you will find the lake. You know how to get back from there." He points then starts off in a different direction.

"You aren't coming?" I ask confused but I hear the faint chattering of his group off in the distance again and understand why. "Oh. T…thanks!" I offer him in a tone loud enough for him to hear but not loud enough for his group to. He disappears into the trees.

Alone again, I sink into despair.

I should just own up to my feelings instead of cowering and debating all the time. Where's my fighting spirit?

Lost somewhere between his debunking gaze and his alluring smirk.

*cue wooing fangirls*

If I put on a dress and confess my feelings do you think he would know it was me? I could probably fit right in with them…

I shake my head to get the image out of my mind. Something is seriously wrong here…

No use thinking about it now though. The time had passed and I had ruined it. It was time to start over.

I go off in the direction he had instructed and sure enough I reach the lake a short while later.

Somehow I wasn't surprised that he already knew the land so well even though we had only been there a short while. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what he had been doing on those early mornings when Max had caught him sneaking out before sunrise. Kai was one to make sure he was well aware of his surroundings. This was one time that I was extremely grateful for that.

I look at the lake and start off towards the main camp buildings in hopes I can find Tyson before Chris does or even worse, before he goes back for me and gets lost. I would hate to think that me finding my way would cause Tyson to lose his. Although I do wonder if I should be so concerned since it WAS his fault that I had gotten lost to begin with.

I stop walking when I hear a clinking noise and something strikes me. I look at the second clue again and turn towards the lake.

A boat.

It made sense.

I turn back to the direction Kai had left me from.

Had he known? Was he…helping me? Even as a competitor?

I suppose it wouldn't have been THAT strange. Tyson had considered it earlier as well. I did not picture Kai giving us the same service. As a competitor, he didn't let anyone off the hook without a proper reason. Even his losses were calculated decisions. So had it just been a coincidence?

It could have been that he didn't care about such competitions as these, but he had been so serious at the rest of them. When he was coming at me with that volleyball it wasn't with intentions to lose or even nonchalantly win. There was intent in there. So even if he wasn't too into this particular competition I still think his personal pride might cause him to ensure his victory anyway. It was hard to judge without any facts or evidence though. Maybe I was reading too much into it. Unless he was sure he would win regardless of whether or not he helped me. Which was more of a possibility than anything else.

I scowl in thinking that this might be the case. I should just be happy that I had found the next clue with relatively no trouble but the idea that it had been accomplished in a way that possibly undermined my own abilities somehow made me angry. But was my anger warranted? It really may have just been a coincidence. Especially since he hadn't even read the clue or known I had it.

The mystery behind Kai was just growing more and more frustrating. I think it is time that I set some concrete goals. This time, I would figure it out. He wasn't going to get away with it anymore.

After I retrieve the item than has been stashed on the tiny canoe boat, it doesn't take me long to get back to the main part of camp where the others are waiting. Chris gives me a look that says he probably should scold me, but he doesn't and I am happy for this.

"You retrieved the item I see," he says instead. I nod and put it with the other item that has been collected. We weren't the first, but we weren't the last either. That was somewhat comforting.

"Where's Tyson?" I am almost afraid to ask. One, because mentioning it brings further attention to the fact that we aren't together. Two, because he would be upset that we lost. And three, because I am not sure I even want to know.

"Bathroom. He had a little…trouble." That doesn't sound good. I am too afraid to ask for an elaboration as I imagine all the possibilities. Chris seems to pick up on this before I even get through the most traumatizing scenarios. "Nothing he won't recover from. Just a few mosquito bites. The other boys are helping him with some lotion." Mosquito bites aren't so bad. I'm happy it wasn't the bees. I wonder if those girls realize just how hurt he could have ended up. What if he had been allergic? He could have died!

He wasn't, at least not that I know of, but THEY didn't know that.

I don't know whether it was because of my earlier conviction about getting to the bottom of Kai or whether it was because of the potential harm they could have caused to my close friend, but I decided then that those girls must also be taken care of. I know earlier I said fighting fire with fire wouldn't work and that I should approach it in a more delicate and passive way, but this was getting too severe. They had to be taken care of before somebody really got hurt.

I turn as I hear the boys returning from the bathroom, noticing Tyson first.

His skin was patched with pink spots in so many places that it could be mistaken for chicken pox. A pair of gloves had been tied to his hands to stop him from itching and I watch him sympathetically as the boys try to explain that he would heal faster that way.

Yep, they definitely needed to be taken care of.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade. :)

Chapter 7: 'Til Death Do Us Part

A/N: I apologize ahead of time for any excessive wordiness. I was trying to rush and slow down at the same time and some spots seemed to flow awkwardly. I did my best to edit it but have no idea if it worked the way I wanted it to. I always appreciate criticisms though. Enjoy!

"Did you get the stuff?" Tyson whispers as we all gather in our meeting spot in the woods. Max holds out a box full of mustard packets. "Okay good. Ray?" I hand him the jar I had been assigned to retrieve. "Great. Kai?" We all turn to an empty space. "Where's Kai?"

"Hmm, maybe he ran into trouble," I suggest. Max nods. It had been a full three hours since the Hunt had concluded and lunch had been made. We hadn't been in last place so we didn't have to do the preparing but we hadn't won either. Two of the other boy's cabins had actually come in first at the same time. They had met up with each other somewhere and all worked together to finish. How heartwarming…

Tyson was less itchy and his bites were less inflamed but it was still clear that he was uncomfortable. He was happy to be presented with something else to concentrate on for the time being.

"You did give him the hardest task after all. You should have given Ray that one. He's a better sweet talker," Max beams and I look at him quizzically.

"Do you really think so?" I muse. Sweet talking had never been something I had considered putting on my list of skills but maybe he was right in some sense. People DID find it hard to stay mad at me. I had always thought it was because I was so well liked. That must just be my pride speaking…

"Shh, I hear something." They duck behind a tree as something approaches.

"You guys are terrible at this," Kai says from behind us, a hint of amusement in his tone. At least I read it as amusement. He was one that found other's discomfort amusing. Which could be why he still hangs around all of us.

Tyson and Max jump at the sound of his voice and Max falls over almost as if being struck by something. Both boys laugh, embarrassed.

"Ah, there you are… We thought maybe you got caught," Tyson glomps the newcomer. I ignore the pang of jealousy that the action brings about and go to help Max back to his feet. Kai shakes Tyson off easily and hands him a bag of wrapped pancakes.

"I have no idea why I agreed to this. Do you even know what you are doing?" He eyes Tyson skeptically as Tyson gathers all the items together.

"Don't be such a wimp, Kai. Ray's plan is genius!" He pulls out a map. "I found this in the library. It shows all the main buildings and stuff."

"You stepped foot into a library?" I look at him unconvinced.

"Shut up!" Tyson punches my shoulder. "Listen. This is our side of camp and this is the girls." He indicates sections of the map as he explains. "I was watching earlier and there are people watching these two spots where the walking paths cross. There is also somebody watching the front of this building but there's nobody around the back." He points to a building that looks like the bathrooms. "We can easily get over there and into the woods on their side without anyone even noticing." When did he get so smart? Maybe without Kenny around, his tactical brain had to work twice as hard. I think I may have underestimated him in the past.

Well I suppose, technically, I had actually done most of the thinking. He had just implemented my thoughts into actual action. Which wasn't so strange for Tyson. As I have already mentioned, he was a surprisingly adaptable person.

Max looks over the map carefully.

"I think the best time would be before the last service. Everyone will be there and not in the cabins, even the councilors," he replies. "Which is like an hour from now."

"I will need some time to get the last thing so that's good. We can meet back here at that time. I think we should stay in teams though. Just in case we do get caught," Tyson goes on explaining.

"Okay. Since I know what to do with the mustard I think I should get to set it up," Max smiles. Hey, the kid really likes his condiments, who am I to judge?

"Then I'll go with you," Tyson agrees. "Kai can probably get into the cabins easier anyway. Ray, you can go with him and show him where to put them." Kai crosses his arms but makes no real objection. I actually start to get a little nervous but this might be the chance I was looking for. It wasn't ideal, but I had time to figure it out.

"Where do we keep this stuff until then? We can't just leave it out here…" Max looks over the items we have collected. Tyson scratches his head.

"Oh right… I didn't think about that…" I take back everything I previously said about him.

"Do I have to do everything?" Kai growls.

An insulated lunch box with a lock on it suddenly appears in front of us as he sets it down. Wait a minute, had he had that the entire time? Where had he been hiding it?

I look around the area near him for any indication that it had been there before. Any crushed leaves or indentations in the ground where it could have been sitting previously…

"What kind of lunchbox has a lock?" Max asks in confusion. I stop my search to catch Kai rolling his eyes. It had been a futile search anyway…the guy is slick.

"It's for fishing," he states, as if that explains it. To me it made sense but Max still looks confused. Kai looks…exasperated. "Do you want it or not?" He decides he is done with this pre-meeting meeting and starts to walk away.

"Wait! How do we open it?" Tyson tries to stop him. Kai flicks a key at him and continues on his way. Tyson scrambles to catch it, managing to grab it right before it hits the ground. He grabs the lunch box excitedly. "This is awesome! We should bury it somewhere! Like a treasure!"

"Yeah!" Max agrees as they stuff the pancakes and mustard packets inside. Tyson keeps the jar, tucking it in his jacket. He was planning on using it still.

"Why don't we just hide it somewhere in plain sight, like by the docks? I don't think anyone will look there or think it's out of place," I suggest. Tyson jumps up with a burst of energy.

"Great idea, Ray! This is totally why we are friends!" Ha. And here I thought it was because we had so much in common… Silly me.

"I've been meaning to ask you anyway. How did you know about that car before?" I ask, as we start our way towards the lake.

"Car?" Max is confused again.

"Oh! It's a big ghost story here! I heard some of the boys talking about it during lunch one day. There's some weird rumor that it's haunted. Nobody knows how it got there and they say if anyone tries to remove it or go look inside they disappear for a few days then wake up in a strange place with no memory! A few of the boys even said they could hear it crying sometimes."

"Oh wow! Neat story! I wonder if it's true!" Max joins in on the excitement.

It sounded kind of suspicious to me. Especially since there wasn't any roads near there. So how did it even get there? Every camp had its ghost stories. I wouldn't be surprised if it was made just for that purpose. Although I hadn't heard the story before I had seen it so maybe it was less scary to me.

"If it does all that why don't we just lure the girls out there? If they disappear for a few days we won't have to see them before we leave," I laugh at my own idea. Ghost stories were fun. "It's probably not real." I shrug it off anyway.

"Yeah, Ray touched it so it can't be THAT real," Tyson agrees with my look of unconcern. He laughs and Max joins in.

"Yeah I suppose you're right," Max agrees.

After we have successfully hidden the box and Tyson has given Max the key, we separate until the time we have decided on meeting. Tyson had to finish up his last task and Max is left in charge of retrieving the box when the time comes. I announce that I will see them both later and go off on my own little quest. Having one plan in motion, it is time I focus on the real problem.

I find a quiet spot outside to think everything over.

Aside from deciding that I would just tell Kai everything (impressive huh?), I had been going over how to approach it.

My first option was the direct approach. This, in my opinion, would be the option that Kai would most appreciate. However, it was also the most forward and exposing so it was most likely to leave me vulnerable and more likely to get hurt. So even if it was probably the best option to get results (good or bad ones), it wasn't my first choice.

A different approach was one using the backdoor. Not a real door, but a hypothetical backdoor. This involved me being cunning and somehow convincing him that it was his idea to explain himself instead of my wanting him to. This…would be tricky. Considering how smart and intuitive Kai was, it also wasn't my first choice.

The last I had considered was using Max and Tyson as a distraction or annoyance so that I could look more appealing to spend time with away from them. This, of course, left the option of Kai going off on his own and not spending time with any of us.

Weighing options like this is so productive, isn't it?

Approach aside, I was still puzzled on exactly what I would say to him if I was given the chance. I had thought about that for quite some time already and had gotten nowhere. As I saw it, there was really two main issues on the table. The rest kind of fell somewhere in between or would fade as the others were figured out. Those two issues were my feelings and his intentions.

We already know about the issues with my feelings and telling him seemed the most logical before I let it get more out of hand than it already was. How he would react was something that I had to assume would be better than bottling everything up and ignoring it. If I left things how they were, I would never get my life back to normal. His response would just have to a bridge I would cross when I got to it.

As for second matter, I had already figured out that he had some sort of intentions. I may have been blinded in the past to them because I was too focused on myself to pay attention, but after that challenge, it was clear that he wanted something from me. And I don't think that it had anything to do with truly hitting him. Even if it did, that wasn't all it was. I had actually pondered a scenario in which I had no questions or considerations and had just decided to hit him and get it over with, but all of those seemed to end pretty badly. Under no circumstances would it be appropriate to hit Kai. Even with permission he had to know I wouldn't agree, so what else could he possibly want?

Kai didn't play games he couldn't win. But was he playing with me or was there something else going on?

I sigh.

This wasn't really getting me anywhere. I had way too many questions and only one way to get answers. Telling him how I felt seemed like a simple task when thinking about how I could get HIM to explain things more clearly was on the list of things to do. I guess going with the flow would just have to keep working. I had gotten better at it these past few days. Hopefully this little 'group project' would get me in a position I could run with.

If you hadn't guessed earlier, we had come up with a plan to get back at the girls. Even Kai had agreed that Tyson's new pink skin should not go without retaliation. I, being the pure genius that I am, had concocted the perfect plan. Well, I guess it was more of a collaborated effort. Tyson wanted to put spiders in their beds and Max wanted to mix mustard with their toothpaste. Kai just wanted a different set of friends. Me? I had requested pancakes. Not to eat. Although at the time I may have been thinking with my stomach more than my brain. But anyway, they were meant to be bait.

When I was a child I used to play prank on Lee and Mariah all the time. Since our houses are pretty open, it isn't strange for wild animals to happen through every now and then. I used to stuff leftover food under Lee's mattress so after dark animals would be attracted and seem to 'attack' him. It was a pretty priceless scenario when he came screaming out of his house in the middle of the night. He played some pretty gross tricks on me too. It's not really significant to what is happening now though.

The biggest problem here was setting it up. I had convinced Tyson that putting spiders in a place where they could bite and not just scare would be sinking to their dangerous level so we had compromised and he agreed that sneaking them in between the paper towels in the bathroom dispenser was a better idea. But he had to make sure to get some big ones. He swore he knew where to find them, so I just let him go with it.

Max's mustard had a few options. I had suggested sneaking some open packets into their shoes. Mustard is the worst for staining things. And it would be squishy so even if it was harmless it could SEEM like something else. Slugs would probably have the same effect. Maybe I should have suggested slugs.

I shake the idea from my mind.

Now for the pancakes. I had planned on hiding them outside of the cabins to attract the attention of those wild animals. Raccoons in particular. They made enough noise to cause trouble. Tyson had taken it a step further and wanted to put them inside the cabins but it wasn't ALL the girls that were causing trouble and I didn't want some innocent bystanders to get hurt by accident if it went to an extreme. I was happy he left me with the task because I could tell him I did as he suggested and he would never know otherwise.

I suppose it's time to go meet up again.

I sure spent a lot of time thinking and not really accomplishing anything. Sounds like my life in a nutshell… I'm happy I can at least share it with you so it isn't a complete waste. I hope.

I start making my way back to the meeting place.

Kai had been recruited by default. More so as a supervisor, and hopefully, my protector. Dreamy sigh. Yeah right. But I had to venture the furthest into enemy territory since the bathrooms were on the dividing line between the sides and the cabins were deeper in the woods. This adventure would take much more cunning than anything Tyson or Max was capable of without being caught, so I was sort of relying on Kai to carry it out. I think on some level he must have known that too or he wouldn't still be going. He can be such a sweetheart.

I reach the spot and find Kai already there, sitting under a tree, meditating. He looks up as I get near him.

"Hey," I smile at him. He nods. "I'm surprised you showed." No use hiding that speculation.

"I couldn't let you guys have all the fun," he replies coolly. His words always seem to flow so smoothly.

"Guys!" Max rushes over to us, announcing his arrival as well.

"Hey Max. Where's the box?" I ask, noticing that he is empty handed.

"Oh no! I was distracted! I totally forgot! Be right back!" He runs off again. I laugh and lean up against Kai's tree.

"You just came to see this go terrible wrong, huh?" I shake my head at the thought.

I contemplate sitting down next to him but somehow looming above him helps me maintain my confidence a little. It was taking all my willpower not to freak out. He remains noncommittal but since it's quiet for the time being I decide to just get it over with. We might be too concentrated on the tasks later on.

"Hey, Kai?" I start a bit hesitantly. He seems to sense what I am about to say already.

"Don't worry about it," he brushes it off. I look down at him and frown. Which part am I not supposed to be worrying about? The challenge or his mixed signals? If I didn't know him any better I would think he was having some internal battle himself. But that wasn't possible at all. Kai always knew exactly what he wanted.

"Look, I know this is a bit awkward but maybe if I understood it better, I can decide what to do." I hope he gets my meaning. He was smart. He should.

He looks up at me and I fight the urge to fold. His power to do that would be hard to overcome.

I take a deep breath as if to prepare myself for what he might say but that's when Tyson decides to finally make his appearance.

"Look how many I found!" He jumps into the space in front of us and holds out the jar. It is filled with so many spiders that it almost looks like grape jelly. I shudder at the sight feeling slightly icky being so close to them, even if they ARE in a jar.

"Don't you think that's a bit overboard?" I wince imaging all the screaming that was bound to result from this. I pity any guys that happen to be in the area when they are discovered.

"Well it has to be a lot just in case they run away! This way at least ONE of them will still be around!" He laughs as if his scheme is the smartest thing he has ever thought of. It might actually BE the smartest thing he has ever thought of. I'm being mean again... I wonder how we have remained friends for so long.

"If you say so…" I let it drop. Kai stands up and straightens himself. "Wait, Max is…"

As if on cue, Max comes bursting through the tree again, this time carrying the box.

"Let's do this!" Tyson greets him.

We collect our 'tools' from the box, leaving it, and moving on to our mission. At the edge of the building we were using to sneak over, we separate. Kai leads me off into the woods on the girl's side and Tyson and Max attempt to sneak their way into the girl's bathroom. I had a feeling that Tyson was going to play a distraction as Max snuck in and did his business. Not his bathroom business, but his…well, you understand.

We come to a break in the trees to where the cabins come into view and he nods towards the one occupied by Sarah and her friends. How he knew which one was theirs…I'll just not think about. We rush to the back, avoiding any spaces where we might be seen and slipping into a space between some bushes and the cabin's wall. He motions for me to stay as he checks ahead for anyone who may be left behind. He gives me an okay and I join him.

"Here." I whisper as I open the bag of pancakes and hand him a few. "Try to hide them so they won't be seen but will still be reachable. These are log cabins so they have plenty of cracks." He gives me an 'are you really explaining this to me?' look. "Yeah, okay… Meet me back here when you are done. We go back together." He nods and disappears around the other side of the cabin, headed towards the front.

I hadn't been made aware of his ideas on the matter so he might have decided to take that extra initiative and put them inside the cabin after all. I choose not to think about that either, as I take the remaining pancakes and break them up into pieces.

I bury them lightly near the cabin's base and near the windows.

I really hope a moose finds them. Those things can scare even the toughest person. I mean, their sheer size is threatening! Imagine hearing a noise and going to look out your window and BAM! Moose. Absolutely horrific I tell ya…

Kai comes back after a few minutes.

"You done?" he asks.

"I have a few more…" I take the last few pieces and look for good places for them. He waits patiently, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. Having him all to myself once more, I try again. "You know, you're probably right. Maybe it doesn't really matter," I say absently, continuing our conversation from before. "But… I have something I want to say." I finish with the last bits and turn to him. "About wanting me to hit you. I… Well I can't." I set a stern look on him as if to carry my point across. He stands up straight and I interpret it as him giving me his attention. "I can't because…" I stumble to find the right words that I want to say. "Well, because…"

My interpretation of his attention is found to be wrong as he makes a sudden movement forward, tripping me and lowering me down. I am guided gently but swiftly to the ground where he covers my mouth with his hand and hovers over me, making sure we are well hidden by the bushes and that I can't make any movements that might make noise.

My heart is already racing from the contact and from our sudden close proximity. I knew this could be seen as a result from the way he had jumped me without warning but it doesn't slow down with the initial shock dissipated.

Now that I am not filling the air with my nonsense babble I hear what he had heard and I catch a group of girls out of the corner of my eye through the bushes. They are giggling as they discuss the latest news they read in their teen magazines and cross the ground near us, continuing on towards the main meeting hall.

Kai moves his hand from my mouth but stays in his position of keeping me pinned down until he knows that there aren't any more of them. He's concentrated on listening but I am watching him closely, not even able to hide my blush this time around. Hiding anything at this distance was near impossible. He's just so close. My mind is racing, my body is heating up. I feel completely defenseless under the pressure. My breathing becomes unsteady and I pray he doesn't notice.

I start fidgeting in attempts to free myself from his body heat before something more embarrassing than my blush or my breathing happens. My thoughts are becoming concentrated on how I can get a grip on myself. However, my fidgeting attracts his attention and he looks down at me. Meeting my eyes and having only a few inches separating us, the eye contact causes me to stop moving, frozen in that look. The moment seemed to last quite a bit longer than it really was, time seeming to no longer have meaning here.

I don't have control over my body's want to gravitate towards him. I had imagined a moment like this so many times in my dreams that it seemed almost natural now. With those thoughts in mind, I close my eyes as the space between us seems to be disappearing slowly. For a second I imagine our lips brushing softly together, but he pulls away, releasing me, and snapping me back to reality with a jolt.

"They're gone. We should see if the others are okay." My eyes snap open and pulls me to my feet. He starts to head back towards the way we came from, keeping hold of my hand and forcing me to follow quickly.

I blush considerably more than I had before and try to think of any thoughts that would get rid of the fluttering feeling that wouldn't leave this time.

Leave it to my mind to make up those kinds of delusions at such an inconvenient time. I hope I didn't just erase all the progress I had made so far. I could see this becoming a worse problem than it already had been.

Especially since he hasn't let go of my hand yet and we are approaching where we had meant to meet back up with the guys. How would I explain my condition to them, or to Kai? He hadn't seemed to notice before but there was no telling if that was true.

So, I do what anyone in my position should do.

I break contact with him, and run.

Before I let anyone see me, I have to get myself together.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade in any way, shape or form. But it's an awesome show! More people should watch it.

Chapter 8: The Long Way Around

I am such an idiot. I am SUCH an idiot. I AM such an IDIOT. I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!

I hadn't had the courage to leave the safety of this bathroom stall since my quick (embarrassing) departure and was beginning to wonder if I could get away with living in this cramped cubicle for the remaining three days of camp. Three days was all I had to last. That was nothing compared to the 8 weeks I had started with. Just imagine how things could have been had I decided to act sooner. Three days was nothing!

And it really wasn't that bad. After sitting here for some time now, I was starting to like it. It was quiet (for now), isolated (for now), and I had a feeling not many people would ask me what I was doing there (for now). The space itself wasn't that bad either. Somebody had even written a poem on the wall that made some nice scenery. Enlightening even.

I know this is a completely unreasonable thought. It was likely somebody would come looking for me eventually. I was relieved that Tyson and Max had decided not to. Looking at the time, everyone was probably still in the service singing camp songs and sharing their heart-to-heart moments. Hopefully one of them would cover for me, even if they had no idea what was going on. What would Kai tell them anyway?

Knowing him…probably nothing. I wasn't even sure what he was telling himself right now.

Going over that moment in my head, I had on some level convinced myself that his lips had really touched mine and it hadn't just been my fantasy. There was really no indication that THAT was true except for this stomach knotting gut feeling that I had.

He hadn't seemed different or aware. He had led me back without hesitation or awkwardness. He had neither said or done anything that showed any discomfort.

That was probably more frustrating than musing over any of my feelings for the past few weeks had ever been.

He showed no reaction at all. Not a positive. Not a negative. Nothing.

If it HAD been real, he would have SOME reaction right?

I'd accept a negative. Any indication of how Kai feels about this. About me. About my feelings for him. About anything really. I want my reaction dammit! This is driving me crazy!

It had FELT real, even if it had been quick and could possibly be tossed side as accidental. But had he realized what happened and was feigning denial so that I would be less embarrassed about it, or had it really gone unnoticed? I had to know! How do you even go about asking something like that?

I have time. Let's think about this logically for a minute…

Denial was certainly a more believable option. I had been a complete mess. Even if he had missed the 'almost' kiss, there was no way he missed my openly embarrassed departure. The only way my feelings could have been more obvious was if I had been screaming them as I ran away or sporting a flashing neon sign above my head.

Kai is a smart guy. He had to know. Right?

Taking that route, what now?

Sweeping it under the rug like it never happened was a great way to move past this with the least amount of casualties. Judging by his actions in the past, if I played it out that way, he would most likely follow my lead. That just buried the real problem though. I would have no more answers than I did before it happened. Maybe even less since now I had twice as many questions.

A lot of my dreams FELT real. Maybe TOO real. I really could have just made the entire thing up in my head. Which is a completely different problem. If my mind had no self-restraint and I could no longer tell what was real or fake, how could I keep myself from doing something more (or worse) in the future?

I wonder if they have a psychologist here. I wouldn't mind asking for some advice right about now…

I had been quite concentrated on my thoughts to hardly notice if anyone had been in or out of the room. Time had seemed drained of any meaning and sound was an abstract in the background. But a shadow in my direct line of sight brought my attention back to the room and my actual surroundings.

I took in a breath and didn't release it right away, wondering for a moment if I was ready to face what I had coming. What DID I have coming?

The shadow stays unwavering directly in front of the door to my refuge. I was in a position where it wouldn't be easily known that I was there but after a moment of silence I know that that shadow isn't just anyone passing by.

It's Kai.

I close my eyes and take a few slow breaths in anticipation of whatever he has come to offer me.

Concern? Reassurance? Confusion? Demand for an explanation of my actions? Disgust? Rejection? What would he be asking for? How much did he know?

The shadow tilts as he leans on the door.

From my perch I can't see his feet but I somehow know that one is relaxed on the door and he is crossing his arms. I almost smile at how easily I can picture it in my mind without even seeing him. If I had been in a better condition, I probably would have. But thi…

"Ray. I just want you to know that it's okay," he says quietly. I let the silence after his words sink in and don't answer right away. I had messed up these moments so many times in the past and I wanted to make sure I got it right this time.

What was exactly 'okay' anyway? My feelings? My embarrassment? The fact that for the past few months I had been nothing but a flake? Maybe it wasn't even about this but something else. Maybe it was because I told him I couldn't accept his challenge. I had given a great speech to explain that. He hadn't seemed to be listening but maybe he had been after all.

"Ray? Are you in there?!" Tyson's voice comes shattering through the peaceful exchange. I guess that means the service has ended.

I hear a soft mumble, sort of sounding like an "I'm sorry" before the shadow moves away from the door and the room is overcome with chatter as the boys begin entering for their nightly rituals of face washing and teeth brushing before lights out.

"Kai! Is Ray in there?"

"Why don't you just check for yourself?" Charming as ever. I smirk. I think I love him…

"Ray?" Tyson's voice gets closer.

"Maybe he's not in here…" Max suggests in return.

"Where else could he be? Kai said he wasn't hurt and he's not back in the cabin."

I feel like hyperventilating right now but I guess hiding won't really accomplish getting any closure.

I take in one last deep breath and open the door, stepping out into the room. Besides Tyson and Max, there are only a few other boys around.

"I'm here, sorry…" I start thinking of things to say that will negate them from asking too many questions but I am saved by the sudden (and extremely loud) shriek that comes bursting from outside. Everyone goes rushing to see what it is and we are all front row to a group of girls screaming and pulling at their clothes and hair like they had just walked into a huge spider web.

I exchange looks of delight with my friends and Tyson gives Max a bump to the shoulder as everyone else shares a laugh at the scene. The girls are completely mortified as they start yelling about being attacked and that somebody needs to do something about it. Two of the girl's councilors try to calm them down as a third enters the bathroom to see what the problem is.

She comes out a minute later covered in yellow splashes and with a less than amused look on her face as she pulls the plastic packets from her hair. I look at Max confused and he leans over to me.

"I set up a catapult," he whispers excitedly. "I know it wasn't in the original plan but I saw it in a movie once and had to see if it would actually work. I used Tyson's shoelaces and an empty toilet paper roll." He smiles proudly and goes back to give Tyson a high five. I try to picture exactly how that worked but I suppose the results were proof enough.

"Everybody back to your cabins! When we find out who did this there WILL be consequences!" the councilor vents. "Girls, let's go get cleaned up in the main building…"

"Awe, come on. It's just a harmless prank. Go a little easy," one of the boy's councilors tries to lighten her mood. She sends him a look and he sighs. "Come on boys. Hurry up and finish. We're having lights out early today…" The groups are split up and we are rushed to finish up and return.

No real words are spoken as we return to our cabins and crawl into our beds. A few murmurs go around about how cool it was and how Nicole was so scared of spiders that she was crying and that the girls had never seen it coming but even with our success I didn't really feel all that rewarding. I am sure Tyson saw it differently. He was probably overjoyed at how it had played out. He probably couldn't wait for the next challenge to unfold or for their answer. Although, not getting caught meant that Tyson couldn't gloat or claim it so there was no way of knowing whether they knew it was us or not anyway. It could have been anyone.

I settle in to my bunk and let the whispers die down as Chris orders us to sleep. He turns off the lights before going off to meet the others about what should be done. I thought that Tyson would be the worst at containing himself but it remains quiet as everyone tries their best not to talk about it or voice their pleasure in seeing others so humiliated.

An awkward kind of silence settles in around us but having the excitement out of immediate attention and turned into expectation of some type of punishment, my thoughts (surprisingly) don't keep me awake for long. After everything I had been through in the past few hours, I find myself drifting before Chris even returns with whatever news he had for us.

When morning comes, I bet those councilors were wishing they had waited to make their decision on punishments. Having no real way of knowing who was responsible, they had decided to let it slide. Nobody had been hurt. And what kind of respectable summer camp wouldn't allow some harmless fun?

"Tyson! Tyson! Get up! Come quick!" Our morning wake-up call bursts in and pounces. "You HAVE to see this!" Tyson grumbles a disoriented rejection but Max persists until he and most of the other boys are led by their curiosity to go see whatever it is that's going on.

I hop down from my bunk shortly after, and follow the group outside.

We are met by...clothes? What?

All across the grounds in very random places are various items of clothing. And a LOT of them. Some looked chewed and torn, others were just clinging to trees and bushes, all were covered in mud and leaves. At closer inspection, all were belonging to the girls. Why are the girl's clothes strewn about the grounds as if they'd been carried off by…oooh. The realization hits me.

I spot Kai crossing our line of vision on the left and he sends me a smirk when I catch his eye. He doesn't join us but that look could only mean one thing. He must have taken my idea a step further and hidden the food in their clothes or at least spread the scent of food on them somehow. In the confusion last night it had probably been overlooked and we were now seeing the results.

Looking back at the mess, it was almost like looking at art, and I smile. No doubt there was going to be a storm when these girls woke up.

And a storm there was. Not only were the girls pissed, they were absolutely threatening. Sarah didn't waste any time at all in retaliating. The boys had been banned from breakfast and forced into extra hours of morning service until all were in agreement that what had been done was wrong and that we all promised not to do anything else.

Our activities for the day were also restricted. No morning games and no free time after lunch. We weren't allowed to participate in any recreational activities at all and were only allowed to speak to the girls if we were apologizing. We were to remain in the main meeting hall for group sessions and some weird bonding rituals in which we would 'build up our character' and return to camp tomorrow as 'new saints'. Yeah right. Nice try anyway!

We were allowed to eat lunch, but it wasn't as gratifying as it should have been after already missing breakfast.

"Um, is this supposed to be this color?" Max eyes his food skeptically.

"Who cares? Is there more?!" Tyson of course ignores his wariness. He has already stolen my food and the food of two other helpless victims and is looking for anyone else who wasn't paying attention enough to defend themselves. I wasn't really missing mine all that much since Kai had chosen to sit next to me and I was more concerned with what I should say to him.

I still didn't know WHAT was okay and why HE was apologizing (if that is what I had heard). As far as I could tell, he hadn't done anything warranting an apology. If anyone should be apologizing, it was me. Especially since I was still trying to decide if what happened had really happened or if my imagination had really just been that good.

There was just so many more important things to think about than figuring out which animal our food had used to be or why it looked like it was a little soupy. Actually, that IS quite concerning.

"What IS that?" I ask absently as I study Max's tray.

"If I had to guess, I'd call it revenge," Kai responds, not hiding his amusement. I find it incredibly curious that he doesn't play favorites when torture is involved. He is amused by ANYONE'S pain. Even his own friends. I keep wondering why that makes me want to hug him…

I notice then that Kai hadn't even taken a tray. Which makes me ponder why he had even stuck around. Normally he wouldn't have bothered.

When I start to hear some dissatisfied groans from various places around our side of the room, I catch his amused look growing more amused and I settle on THAT being the reason. This might have moved from confused affection to being disturbed. Would he get satisfaction out of seeing ME in a position like this? Maybe that's why he wasn't pushing me to say anything or explain. He could have been getting off with my discomfort alone. Now that's a scary thought. I really hate my brain right now.

"Are you FEELING okay? You all look a little PALE…" Sarah announces her arrival behind us with her normal condescending tone. I turn slightly to see her and her friend's satisfied looks as a few boys start to look like they might be sick. Having not eaten breakfast had only made most of them more eager to eat. This obviously wasn't a good thing as one boy goes running from the room as fast as he can, holding a hand over his mouth.

"Oh. Poor thing…" Nicole adds her two cents, dripping with her own mock concern.

"I guess tomorrow won't be as exciting as I thought if you've all come done with the summer flu. Shame. I was really looking forward to a REAL competition." Sarah rolls her eyes and tosses her hair back before they return to their own table.

"I don't feel so good…" Tyson frowns and sits back down next to Max, finally taking on a normal response to whatever THIS was. It was clear that our food had been tampered with is some way. I was now happy for Tyson's abnormal appetite. He had saved me from doing something slightly more embarrassing than the things I had already done.

"I'm not so hungry anymore…" Max pushes his tray away. He had barely touched it but he didn't look any better off than the boys around him who were holding their stomachs with pained looks.

And that is about when I snap. I push back from the table angrily, once again catching an amused look from Kai. I can almost feel him watching me as I break away from the group and approach the girl's table. A few girls who weren't a part of their 'click' gasp as I push them away to put myself directly in front of Sarah, leaning my hands on the table and making sure she knows I mean business by meeting her eyes directly.

I have no idea where the sudden urge had come from or how I was ignoring all the attention that was completely zoned in on me, but I decided that even if I had to face them all by myself, it was happening.

"If you think that a little food poison will bring us to our knees crying, you obviously don't know who you are dealing with. It is best you get your beauty sleep tonight because tomorrow will be nowhere close to easy. Oh, but maybe you're right. You should be more concerned with bears and spiders popping up than a few 'under the weather' boys…" I tilt my head to send a look to Nicole, who is trying her best to stay composed at the mention of spiders. Sarah, however, is intimidatingly unwavering.

"That's a nice speech," she replies with not even a hint of fear or even a little take back. For some reason, it felt like she had already anticipated my actions and it was only making me angrier. "I really liked the enthusiasm this year. We could have had some REAL fun." She smirks suggestively. "It is really sweet of you to defend your friends too. I really like that. Too bad for you…" Her smirk changes to a sterner look and her tone goes from playful to something darker. "…you won't be making our meeting." She nods to her left and Nicole nods back but I miss the connection by a split second until a girl who happened to be passing by with a tray of food, suddenly stumbles.

I react by quickly moving to catch her before she falls to the ground, but her tray hits me and she hits the tray, sending food flying everywhere. It hits a few of the girls and the back of some boys, none of which seem too happy about it. The girl I had tried to save, conveniently disappears, leaving me standing with the tray and in a position of guilt. They look at each other and immediately move to retaliate by grabbing the nearest thing from their table and throwing it towards me.

I duck and it hits another person behind me. This person responds in much the same way but instead throws their entire tray. I manage to dodge that as well but it creates a domino effect and soon there is food being thrown everywhere.

How did I get to be at the center of this again? If she had planned all this, we had totally underestimated her. Had I been so distracted that even a battle with some stupid girls was too much for me?

When the room, and everyone in it, is sufficiently covered in mashed potatoes and the weird soupy mixture, we are broken up. I am immediately labelled as the start of the fight and sentenced to spend time in the isolation cabin for the night. Being the great friends that they are, Tyson and Max protest and are ordered to join me as my accomplices. The rest of the boys are ordered to clean up the mess as we are led away and the girls are allowed to leave to shower.

Sarah sends me a vindictive smile as they watch us go and Kai, looking oddly untouched by this whole incident (how does he DO that?), responds by tossing a pudding cup right at her head. After an over-reactive outburst of disgust from the girl, he is sentenced to join us as well. He takes it all in stride and follows us without protest or even disdain. He actually seems quite pleased.

I'll never figure this guy out.

"Hey," I grab everyone's attention as we approach the isolation cabin. "You didn't have to do that. With you still out here, you could have still..."

Tyson wraps an arm over my shoulders.

"Don't mention it, Ray! We're a team! We have to stick together," he laughs and Max agrees by grabbing onto my free arm and nudging me. I look at Kai and he just smirks.

"Couldn't let you have all the fun," he repeats his line from yesterday in much the same manner and tone, and I laugh and shake my head.

"You guys are the best."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade in any way shape or form.

Chapter 9: What Starts in the Heart, Ends in the Head

"They better let us out tomorrow morning. We can't miss the challenge!" Tyson exclaims as we settle into the cabin.

"I'm sure they will. They have to feed us sometime," Max shrugs and jumps up on the bed next to him. They start playing a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who gets to use the bathroom first to clean themselves up.

The isolation cabin consists of two beds, a boarded up window, a door locked from the outside, and a bathroom. We had been allowed to grab a change of clothes and our toiletries before being locked inside but the exceptionally tiny bathroom was only big enough for one person at a time (barely). It also seemed quite inconvenient since it didn't really have a door, just a curtain. And the curtain looked quite old…

Why do I suddenly feel self-conscious?

I choose to let them go first since I am also trying to decide whether or not that curtain will give me some kind of a bacterial infection. I sit down quietly on the other bed and send a short glance over my shoulder. Kai has already settled in on the bed behind me and seems to be sleeping? I suppose 'listening without comment' is more like it.

Although his eyes are closed so he very well might be sleeping. Kind of early, but whatever, there isn't really much else to do in here and he already seems pretty untouched by the mess the rest of us are covered in.

"I win!" Max jumps up and darts into the bathroom.

"You cheat, I know it! Who invented this game anyway?" Tyson pouts as he kicks his shoes off and falls back onto the bed.

"At least we didn't have spaghetti!" Max yells from the other room, trying to lighten the mood.

"Don't use all the hot water!" I call back to him as I hear the shower start.

"Don't worry, there doesn't seem to be any anyway!" Max calls back with a laugh a short while later.

I absently pick at the food particles clinging to my hair and sigh.

Well, it's not the worst time of year for a cold shower. It IS kind of stuffy in here so it might actually feel better with one. And it seems like I will be sleeping with Kai so I might in fact need one.

This always seemed to be the non-spoken sleeping arrangements that we had. Kai may have spent this trip bunked with Max because of assignment, but when given the option not to, I was always elected as his desired bunkmate. The benefits of being the least annoying of the three of us. In a normal situation I would be happy about this. After what happened yesterday, not so much. I know he said it was okay, but I still didn't see it that way.

Which left me with the options of calling attention to myself by objecting, or sucking it up and dealing with it. Out of all the bad things I could think of from this arrangement, there were two good things. One, Kai couldn't leave if I tried to talk to him. And two, these beds aren't exactly made to fit in two people, if you know what I mean.

Hey, look at me finding the bright sides of bad situations. I should do that more often. It is totally better than panicking. Since, panicking is totally what I WANT to do right now. I can't run from this one either. I might be in trouble here. I'm sharing a single bed with Kai! This could get very awkward, very fast. I may have to sleep with my back to him. That's safe, right?

I glance at Kai again.

On second thought, it might be better if I don't sleep AT ALL tonight…

Wait, who am I kidding? I'm not sleeping at all tonight anyway. I'm sharing a bed with Kai!

When did this get so weird? I have shared beds with Kai on a lot of occasions. Sometimes I have even woken up hugging him. He had never seemed to mind. Thankfully I had woken up before him a lot of the time. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. It seems strange to think anyone would wake up after Kai. I'm just rambling now though. I don't think that's what really matters here.

I hope I don't wake up hugging him…

I kick my own shoes off and pull my feet underneath me so I can turn to face Kai. After a few minutes of watching him and trying to decide if he is really asleep or not, he opens his eyes as if sensing my attention. I smile at him and push back every signal that would announce how uncomfortable I am at that moment.

"I just wanted to, uh…thank y…"

"Hey, Ray," Tyson sits back up to take my attention. "There's something I have been meaning to ask you but with everything that's been happening, I forgot." I silently curse him as I close my eyes and count to 3 before opening them and shifting myself (and my attention) back to the other bed.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" I ask as nonchalantly as I can. I am desperately trying to ignore the feeling that Kai is also still watching me. There is something about his attention on me that makes me feel really exposed. It isn't normal to be this aware of my own actions. Being careful not to say or do anything that might indicate that something is wrong only seems to make it more noticeable that there is. At least in my head anyway…

"Brrrr! It's all yours!" Max bursts out of the bathroom, wearing bright lime green pajama pants and a towel wrapped around his head. He tackles Tyson.

"Hey!" Tyson protests, trying desperately to break free of him. "You're so cold!"

"Isn't it nice?" Max beams and fixates his hands on Tyson's face. Tyson shrinks away and jumps up off the bed.

"It's not healthy to have goosebumps when it's warm out!"

"Awe, come on, Tys. I'm just preparing you. It's pretty cold in there!"

"Great…" Tyson grumbles and gathers up his towel and clothes. "Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back!" I share a laugh with Max as Tyson goes into the bathroom.

"Where exactly would I go? I don't think I would fit under the bed." I shake my head. Max pulls on an orange striped t-shirt and jumps back up.

"Hey, Ray! Let's play a game!" He comes over and sits down beside me, receiving a warning glance from Kai to not make any sudden moves. After concluding that he was safe from any attack, Kai returns to his 'nap'.

"What kind of game? We don't really have any supplies," I ask him curiously.

"There's all kinds of games we can play! How about Would You Rather or Two Truths One Lie? Or maybe 10 Fingers or I Spy!" He's a poet and he didn't even know it… "Hmm I wish we had paper. Then, we could totally play Act/React!" I stare at him a minute, suddenly wishing somebody else was there to inquire further. I knew Kai wouldn't help any and there was no way to brush it off like I didn't think he was talking to me. But he seems to get the idea from my look of confusion and explains anyway. "It's a game where everyone writes down a bunch of situations or events on pieces of paper and then everyone picks one at random and whatever you pick you have to act out how you would react if faced with that situation and then everyone tries to guess what you are reacting too. It's really fun! Like you could pick 'meeting someone famous' and then you have to play it out. Like this!" He stands up and does a little mock scene where he is greeting somebody excitedly and then a face of shock. It would probably make better sense if you saw it but just picture Max realizing that there isn't any condiments left in the world. It was like a face of mixed horror and unexpectedness all rolled into one. It IS quite entertaining, but I really don't think I could have guessed what he was really trying to display.

"Oh fun…I'm so sorry we don't have that paper…" I mock enthusiasm with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. I was trying not to sound relieved or skeptical but Kai releases a snorting sound and I know that at least he had noticed my reluctance. He doesn't move or react in any other way that indicates that he is paying attention and Max is oblivious to it all as usual.

"Yeah, we should play some time when we get back! You guys would love it!" I bite my lip to keep from laughing as he sits back down next to me. "But we can play something else! Kai should play too!" Max nudges his leg and he furrows his brows but doesn't open his eyes. I can't stop the smile that that creates and find myself relaxing a bit. I had forgotten what it was like to just hang out like this. My mind had been so consumed with what I was hiding that I wasn't enjoying the times that we could just be together having fun.

This is soon relinquished as Tyson bolts from the bathroom, wearing only a pair of underwear and still dripping wet, as he heads straight for Max. I wince and move away quickly as I can to avoid the wrestling match that I know is about to start and almost feel sorry for them. Especially knowing that Kai is not going to like THAT at all…

I grab my change of clothes and slip away as quietly as possible. I wasn't looking forward to the shower but it was better than the crossfire of rage that was sure to be released shortly. And I really need to get this sauce out of my hair before it became a permanent part of it.

In reality the water is not as shocking as the two of them had me believing. It's actually a dull lukewarm and not freezing cold. The curtain isn't as bad as I had expected either. It's discolored but not slimy or anything gross as I had thought it might be from looking at it from afar. It may have been meant to be a punishment to be here, but it was well taken care of and not too bad to be in. Especially since there weren't any distractions or more pressing things to worry about, like girls. Seriously, what's wrong with them? It's no wonder that I seem to prefer guys. Although I am not too sure if Kai counts as 'guys'.

When I shut the water off I can still hear fighting from the other room and I can only imagine what I am about to walk out on. There wasn't anything in the room that could be used as a weapon but Kai was pretty resourceful and could outsmart either of them with just a paperclip.

It wasn't really like that at all though. After dressing and shaking out the water in my hair as best I could, I step out and the room is…quiet? I look up and see Max and Tyson, back on their own bed, quietly sitting completely immobile. Kai is still on the other bed but is sitting up with his legs folded and his eyes fixed on the other two boys, watching them carefully.

"What happened?" I am almost afraid to ask. I stay in the doorway a minute, trying to figure out what is going on. Tyson goes to answer but Kai raises a hand and he remains frozen.

"We're playing statues," Kai replies coolly. I raise an eyebrow and try not to laugh. Leave it to Kai to think of something like that. "You're welcome to join." He goes on as I toss my dirty clothes into the pile outside the doorway that the others had made with theirs. Max squints his eyes partly closed as if he is about to sneeze and Tyson glances at him hopefully, but both manage to keep their composure.

"I'll pass…" I answer. "Just watching them is painful enough." Tyson exhales loudly then slumps forward in defeat.

"I win AGAIN!" Max laughs and pushes him playfully.

"Hey, no way! I want a redo! Ray shouldn't be allowed to talk! It's distracting…" Tyson grumbles, crossing his arms. Kai just shrugs and lets them shake themselves out.

"Let's make it harder this time! You should try to hold a pose," Max nods in encouragement. Tyson seems to think it over.

I return to my original place on the bed, next to Kai, and start tugging at my hair so I can pull it back. Bringing it over my shoulder so I can comb the knots out with my fingers, I make eye contact with Kai but quickly turn away, focusing on the task I have set myself.

"Okay ready!" Tyson relays, holding a pose that looks quite similar to cricket getting ready to jump. Max is in a less strenuous pose, simply holding his hands out like he had dropped something that was hot, but neither look like they will last long that way.

"Okay, statues." Kai starts the game. "Ray, can be the judge now. Just remember, no noise." He waves them off as they freeze all movement and he lays back down behind me. If I didn't know him any better I would say he was quite lazy, but I knew this was more out of being anti-social than laziness.

I finish up with the tangles while watching Tyson and Max from the corner of my eye until one of them breaks down and growls then demands another round. I finally manage to pull my hair back and rest as they start over again, picking just as challenging poses as before. This goes on for several rounds, Max winning once more and Tyson winning twice, before both boys are satisfied with their results and complaining about arm cramps.

They start another game shortly after, forgetting that Kai or I are even present, and go on happily by themselves. I decide to just watch them as if I were their parent and they were playing in the park. After a while they both get bored and try to find something else to occupy themselves but they end up fighting instead. I debated whether to break it up but they weren't hurting each other and it can be healthy to get some aggression out of the system every once in a while so I let it go, promising myself that I would stop it if fists started getting involved.

The lights go out at 9 and grumbles of who gets what side of the bed start shortly after.

"Can you guys give it a rest, please?" Kai's voice startles all three of us. They pause their actions and I glance over my shoulder to catch Kai's glare that's fixated on them. I'm sure they don't see it in the dark but his eyes are practically glowing with annoyance.

"He started it," Tyson grumbles.

"Did not!" Max retorts. They both growl at each other.

"Enough! Just go to sleep." They follow his orders wordlessly but are persistent on remaining angry at each other. They take the pillows and pile them in the middle of the bed like a barricade and refuse to share the sheets. A short pillow fight starts between them but concludes quickly as they both start giggling uncontrollably. "If I hear another sound you better make it a good one because it'll be your last," Kai sends one last threat across the room before turning his back to the rest of the room and cuddling the wall.

The room goes a deadly quiet as the two of them settle in, now co-operating with each other but still keeping a line of pillows between them as they lay down.

I lay down as well, as softly as possible, keeping my eyes looking at the ceiling. This isn't awkward at all…

Don't ask me why… Maybe it was everything building up. Maybe it was the fact that we were locked in a cabin with no doors or windows. Maybe it was how Kai's tone of voice so easily quieted the other two boys. Maybe it was how they followed without even the slightest protest. They reminded me of a bunch of kindergarteners being punished for talking during nap time.

Or maybe it was just me going crazy.

Somehow the silence took my last sense of control away from me and I suddenly just start shaking, covering my mouth and trying my best to hold back the snickering sounds that wish to escape. But I can't hold it for long before I burst into full laughter. Not a loud obnoxious type of laugh but a highly amused and slightly hysterical 'is this really happening right now?' type of laugh. And it felt good.

"Not you too…" Kai grumbles bitterly. I can just imagine him rolling his eyes which just makes me laugh more. This gets Tyson and Max to start up laughing as well and soon the whole room is filled with a tired amusement that we are sharing.

I take a deep breath and try my best to make amends.

"I'm really sorry…" I breathe out, forcing myself to push the rest of my laughter away. The rest of the room quiets as well but everyone seems more at ease than the awkward silence from before.

"Good night, guys." Max sighs happily. A mumble of good-nights follow and everyone finally settles in completely, ready for sleep.

I remain awake for some time, smiling to myself as I watch the shadows dance across the ceiling and listen to everyone's breathing slow down. Tyson's snoring soon follows, although I have grown used to that sound by now.

Surprisingly, I felt quite relaxed. I thought I would be completely freaking out but this arrangement was comforting. Not just Tyson's snoring but Max and Kai's presence as well. It felt nostalgic. Like how things used to be. I could handle this! I just had to shut my brain off until morning. That wouldn't be too hard, right?

I am proud of myself. I haven't said or done anything embarrassing this whole time. I could say it was because of Max and Tyson but I wanted to feel like it was because I was making progress. I had to give myself some credit once in awhile…

I drift to a light sleep, only to be awakened a few hours later by Kai shifting next to me. At first I am not sure what has woken me but I look beside me and see that Kai is now facing me. With his eyes closed and the soft light of the moon shining on his face making him look almost angelic, it's hard not to tell myself that I wish he was always there beside me like that. He didn't have to say he loved me back or even that he had any feelings for me at all. He just had to be there, next to me.

I turn my body (gently as not to disturb him) so that I can look at him better.

Even as a phantom silhouette he was perfect. It may have been hard for me to determine exactly when the feelings had started but it wasn't hard for me to figure out why they existed. I wanted to blame all the moments I shared with him for being too perfect but it really hadn't been the moments between us that had changed. It had been me. I changed the way that I saw him and the way that I saw myself with him. It was easier for to accept that it was a problem that needed to be fixed but sitting here now, it didn't feel like a problem at all. In this moment, having him so close to me, so peaceful, all I want to do is touch him. I want to know that he is real. I want to know what it feels like to run my fingers through his hair. Just once…

I jump as a hand grabs mine, stopping it a few inches from his face. I hadn't even realized that I had been reaching for him until the second his hand had connected with my wrist. Now his eyes open and my whole body tenses, becoming fully aware of what I was doing. I blink, letting reality slowly return and during that time, we just stare at each other. His hand grips my wrist tighter as he puts it down and releases it, then sits up.

"I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to…" I rush. I do my best to keep my voice low (not wanting to wake the others) as I sit up as well. I know I am blushing but I am also trembling and thinking of how many ways I could clear this up without making everything worse. "I know I have been doing some really weird things lately…" I try to explain. Then the fidgeting starts. I can't meet his eyes but I know he's watching me. Which only makes it worse. As I am fighting my desire to break into a non-coherent ramble, he breaks through my thoughts.

"I keep telling you that it's okay. And I mean it," he says quietly. I stop fidgeting and look up at him.

"How do you always seem to know what I am thinking?" I whisper. I am not even sure I have said it at all until he half smiles. At least it looks like a half smile in the dark.

"We've been friends for a long time." That's true. Even if I wasn't so obvious with the thoughts I kept inside, he would know me well enough to be able to guess at them. It wasn't like I was great at hiding them anyway. But that didn't mean that he knew everything, did it?

I let a silence sink in as I decide what I want to say next. It might not be the best of circumstances but we were both here, neither of us had anywhere to run away to, and the subject was already out in the open…sort of.

"Well…" I look down again and take in a breath. "Since I have your attention…can we talk?" I study his face for confirmation or agreement.

"You don't have to do this here." I catch his meaning as his eyes shift to the other side of the room and the two boys sleeping there. I send a glance at the other bed as well and as if knowing he was being acknowledged, Tyson rolls over and mumbles something about taking his shoes off to go get a pizza. He lets out a sigh and everything goes quiet again. Max seems to have been buried under the pillow pile they had made earlier but is no more awake or aware of Tyson, let alone us.

I turn back to Kai.

"No." I shake my head, pulling courage from somewhere in the dark. My heart beat speeds up, I start to sweat as my head races to catch up with my heart, and I press forward. "You can say it's okay all you want, but it's not okay. I can't keep it to myself anymore. I…l…like…you." And the courage is gone.

My face must be twelve different shades of red and I am actually happy that the window isn't open to the outside world. The moon coming through the small cracks is only enough to cast more shadows and I feel safe in them. My heart is beating so hard that it is pounding right through my ears and I am silently wishing that he can't hear it too.

"I know," comes his short reply.

He knows? What does THAT mean? Okay so he knows. How long has he known? If he has known, why hasn't he said anything? I could have let this out sooner and saved myself a whole lot of prolonged humiliation and self-torture. And what does knowing mean? Well he hadn't run away screaming or anything. If he has known for a while than he has made it clear that it doesn't change anything about our friendship. That was nice in a way. But what does that mean now?

I certainly couldn't go back to being the way we had been before. Knowing that he knew was like telling me I had a tattoo on my face that everyone else saw but I couldn't. I wouldn't be able to look him in the eye again. Not that I did that that easily anyway, but now it would be ten times worse. Not knowing that when he looked at me, he actually SAW me. It was enough to make me shiver and I was still sweating…

"I don't know if you fully understand what I am saying here," I try to get a little more out of him.

"I do," he confirms. I am left exasperated. Does he? Can he? How did we even get to this point?

"And…?" I stop, unsure of what I want him to say. "Well you aren't surprised… Why would you be? You're Kai. I should have expected that… But…" I realize that I am talking more to myself than to him but he doesn't stop me.

I hadn't pictured having THIS conversation in my head. Sure I had thought about telling him, but him saying things like 'it's okay' and 'I already knew' weren't in the list of anticipated responses. Does this change anything? Does it change what I want to happen? What DID I want to happen? Shooting out a reciprocating declaration of love and leaping into my arms wasn't exactly logical but I had expected something right? Something that said whether he did or didn't feel the same way?

"You don't annoy me," he replies with a smirk. As if THAT answers all the questions rolling around in my head.

It was strange how he seemed to know exactly what I was thinking at exactly the right moments but at the same time it was frustrating. I couldn't pull more than a few words out of him at any time. They always seemed to be the RIGHT words, but they always left me wanting a little more.

Maybe this was part of some bigger plan he had going. He must have had a 'let's see how long I can mess with Ray's head before he goes crazy' plan to counteract my 'what the heck am I feeling?' plan that I had been battling with all this time.

"Do you think I could just…?" I stop again. I could what? What was I trying to ask? What did I want him to do?

I let the question just linger in the air as I push myself to meet his eyes one more time, to study him. I stare at him as if I can find the answers somewhere on his face or in his movements. But he is like a giant wall.

I get nothing.

"What's stopping you?" he asks, his eyes not wavering from mine. It feels like a challenge but the nature and cause is a bit blurred by the situation.

"Stopping me from what?" The advantage I have in this question is my confusion. I hope it comes off as more naïve than missing signals or clues that he may have left me somewhere.

"From doing what you want to do right now." This time he is pushing me for a response instead of me pushing him. It is a very strange feeling to have my own tactics used against me. Especially since he is so much better at it than I am.

"What do I want to do right now?" the words drift out of my mouth as if cued. I can't shake the feeling that he has me right where he wants me, doing exactly what he wants me to do.

"What you were about to do ten minutes ago…" he lets his sentence drop as my mind moves backwards. In terms of time, ten minutes ago felt like ten hours ago. In the world that only existed between us time really had no meaning. And right now, I was way too wrapped up in the words he was saying and the way it was making me feel (powerless) to think about what I had been doing before. "I won't stop you this time."

Oh. That.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! I wasn't expecting any so it was a really nice surprise. I am happy that my story has stirred so many emotions! You guys are awesome. Seriously. I hope I don't ruin it with this. xD And I do know that Ray thinks too much… I tried to update quicker so I wasn't leaving you hanging at that particular point for TOO long but I had a pile of neglected school work too so I had to compromise. The next update might take a bit longer, as I have midterms coming up, so I apologize in advance for that. :) Thanks for everything!

Chapter 10: Untamed Fire

Have you ever had one of those moments when something so ridiculous happens that you just have to stop and think about whether or not it has actually happened? You know for sure that it did but there is something about it that a part of you is just so dumbfounded that you have to sit there and ask yourself "what?" until you understand it. There is no real answer, but the moment is just playing over and over in your head as if there was something you missed and might catch a second time around. Or maybe even the third or fourth. But it doesn't change no matter how many times you replay it.

That's me right now.

Why did I have to be in love with Kai of all people? Why couldn't it have been someone easier to figure out, like Max? All you had to do with Max was smile and he was the happiest person in the world. I bet if I told him that I liked him he would just laugh and give me a hug. Hell, I might even accept Tyson. Tyson would probably miss the point entirely and ask if I wanted to learn a new trick.

But this?

I want to run away. Scratch that. I NEED to run away. Kai is giving me a green light to…gah! I don't even know what! And all I can think about is how disappointing I must be.

Is this just about me wanting to touch his face? Even if it is something that simple, I couldn't possibly do it now. Not with his (and my) attention focused on it. When I had tried to do it before it had been on impulse. I hadn't even been consciously aware of it, so it felt like a completely natural action. Now it felt like it would be more forced and would just end up being completely awkward.

I know he senses my reservation because I can see he's about to say something else and my heart can't take much more of this. If it was pounding any harder, I would surely go deaf.

"I know you have a lot you are trying to figure out right now. If you feel that you need to use me to do it, I'm willing to let you." He's sounds so calm. It's relaxed and cool as if he has suggested that I could borrow his jacket or something. I don't know how he does that. Here I am, entering panic mode, and he's sitting there like we are talking about our favorite ice cream flavors.

I thought I had been doing pretty well.

I had told him what I wanted to tell him (somewhat), I had made sure there wasn't any confusion (I hope), I had given him ample time to respond (he had), and he retorted to everything with…this? AND he was making it sound like it wasn't serious. Like I wasn't serious. I am completely mortified but at the same time, I am somewhat irritated. I didn't like him because I had something I wanted to get out of my system, like an experiment that I could practice with for a while and move on. I liked him because…he was Kai.

Okay, so I don't exactly have reasons flowing out of my brain at the moment but my mind is a bit frazzled right now so you'll have to forgive me. Maybe this was his way of saying he was okay with my feelings and didn't want them to be a reason that things changed between us, so he was offering me a way to deal with it? But was that okay? He kept SAYING it was okay… If he really knew me the way he lets on that he does, he would know that I wouldn't think the same way about it. He was my friend first, before anything else. I wouldn't appreciate it if somebody was treating ME that way so why would he think I would want to do it to him?

Kai shifts a little to make himself more comfortable but he lets me go on with my musings without any more pressure. Was it even pressure that he was using? I am not so sure any more. Of anything!

At first it had seemed as if he had wanted me to react but now it seemed like he was offering to do me a favor. In a way, I guess it could still be seen that way. By letting me get my feelings out he was allowing me to open myself up instead of just bottling it all inside and going crazy. Him showing his support meant that I could tell him anything and he wouldn't care. Knowing that alone was a bit of a relief because I didn't have to hide everything anymore. At least not from him. Which would have been a good thing for me if it hadn't been coupled with several other things that were uncertain.

"I don't…" I try to decide whether he really expects me to agree with him or not. Either way, he had to know that I wouldn't. "I don't think it works that way," I finally manage to answer.

"You haven't even tried," he says bluntly. THAT was definitely a challenge. There was no mixed signals or guessing involved. He really wanted me to act on my feelings. But was it really just for my own sake?

"What do you get out of this?" I venture to ask. My voice drops to a low whisper but I know that he has heard me, even if he doesn't say anything right away.

He grabs my wrist and pulls me forward, leaning in close to my ear. His breath on the side of my face is warm and it sends little prickles down my body. His cheek is just shy of brushing up against mine and his actions aren't hesitant at all. Not like mine. There is something about that that makes my heart jump and get stuck in my throat. I don't even remembering taking in the breath I am holding but I am completely aware that I can't let it out. I swallow hard, frozen in place, anticipating…

"I'll let you decide," he whispers softly. I know there is a smirk in his voice. I can picture it as he is pulling away even if I don't see it. I can hear the amusement. I sense it. It is just dripping out of him. He doesn't have to tell me anything for me to know that he is enjoying this. And why wouldn't he? Torture is a hobby of his, isn't it? It used to be something that I enjoyed WITH him but being on the receiving end was not so fun. I might have to rethink how entertaining it is next time I find myself smiling when he's doing it to somebody else…

I don't look at him as he lets me go and moves away (just as quickly and casually as he had advanced), letting me know that he has finished this conversation. He lays back down with his back turned to me as if everything was absolutely normal and that was his way of saying the problem had been resolved and he was done with it. The whole thing had happened within seconds but every second had felt like an eternity and was now stuck in a jumbled mess inside my head. I don't even think I had blinked once the entire time.

I close my eyes now and throw my hands over my face. It's so hot I could convince a heated blanket that I had a fever. Can I run now? Please? Or better yet, can I just disappear?

I turn my back to him as well and drop my feet to the floor in a defeated manner. This was beyond humiliating. He had played me and I hadn't even known I was in the game. What is worse, is that I can't even decide if it IS just a game for him or if he IS really just trying to help me. Maybe it was both. Either way, I can't even look at him.

I slide to the floor, still in a daze, pulling my pillow down with me.

I had slept in worse places.

If he had noticed my sudden retreat, he didn't say anything, but chances are he did. I don't care. I just want it to be morning and for this to have all been a dream.

We all know that I am not so lucky.

"Did you guys have a fight?" Tyson yawns as he stands up, heading straight for the bathroom without waiting for a response. I cover my face with my pillow and roll over.

"T…Tys?"

_Thud_

I jump.

What was that?

I turn and look up to find Max now lying beside me on the floor, clutching his own pillow.

"Good morning to you too…" I greet him. He groans and pushes himself up, hugging the pillow close to him.

"Sorry Ray, I didn't mean to scare you." He looks from me to the bed behind me. "Are you and Kai fighting?" he inquires innocently. I tick a little.

"No, it's nothing like that…" I trail off. I sit up and shake the rest of the sleep out of me. Granted I hadn't slept all that well and now had a stiff back but I had slept as well as could be expected.

"So he kicked you out then, huh? You could have crawled in with us. We would have made room." He scratches his head and smiles, then stands up, abandoning the pillow on the floor, and crosses to the window. I go to start clearing up the accusation and explain that two people barely fit in these beds so three would have been a nightmare but he changes the subject just as quickly as it had been brought up. "I think it's raining…" He frowns.

"Awe man! You can't be serious! Do you think they won't have the game?!" Tyson emerges from the bathroom and rushes to where Max is. I look over as well, only seeing glimpses of dark grey sky through the cracks.

"I guess we will just have to wait and see…" I reply absently.

"What are we supposed to do now?!" Tyson sinks back down on the bed in a huff. Max follows but in a much more reluctant-like way.

I watch them as they start to prattle on about a plan they had to surprise attack the girls and get their flag and their awesome escape plan that was sure to confuse them so they wouldn't be able to follow. I watch them, but I'm not really paying attention.

"What do you think, Kai?" Tyson moves over to the other bed, almost kicking me in the face as he jumps up onto the side near me. I move away from him before he can take another shot and sit down next to Max, picking up his pillow and throwing it over my shoulder behind us. Don't want anyone tripping. Especially with these two around.

"Hn."

I guess he is back to his usual self.

It's at this moment that I realize just how angry I am. I hadn't thought that I was because it had been overwhelmed by my feelings of embarrassment, but I am. Instead of the usual butterflies that his presence had become known to incite inside me, I am seething. It's almost like the same annoyance that I have for Tyson every now and then. Like he has won something from me but hasn't earned it. It is hard to explain.

"Considering that we are still locked in here, I don't think it matters much," I offer. Tyson probably wasn't going to get much else out of Kai, so somebody had to.

"They better let us out soon or I am going to die of starvation!" Max exhales, collapsing back on the bed.

"You said it!" Tyson agrees.

I fade out.

I know things are still happening around me but it's like I am watching it from somebody else's body. Tyson has sprung to life once more and is animating a story, or perhaps the plan. I had found my desire to participate waning. I am sunk. Into what, I am still pulling the pieces together, but it has drained me and I feel disconnected. My original plan to avoid everything was beginning to look like it had been the better option from the beginning. I didn't want to think anymore. I didn't want to feel this way. I wanted my strength back, my power. And I didn't want to be angry just because I had gotten a glimpse of what I wanted but I hadn't been in control of it. There was more I wanted to say to him. More that I wanted to do. I wasn't just angry at him, I was angry at myself too.

Max has joined Tyson's animation and Kai is just watching in boredom, faking an interest as they explain whatever it is they are explaining.

It isn't until somebody actually does come for us that I am remembered again and my mind returns to the present.

"Everyone alive?" I had expected a higher level councilor like the one who had thrown us in here but it was Chris who opened the door.

"Awesome! Ray, come on!" Tyson and Max are out the door first.

"Hey wait!" Chris tries to stop them but they are too fast. Kai strolls past him next but stops and waits outside the door for me to collect all of our things and slump my way after them.

"Are you okay?" Chris openly voices his concern at the sight of me. "I would have been here sooner but the group leader was a bit harder to convince that you guys wouldn't act up again. I told him you were good kids and it was just an accident."

"Fancy that…" I mumble a little more on the bitter side than I had intended. It becomes apparent that I am not containing my emotions so well anymore. I think on some level I had given up trying to stay in control. It had become clear that I never had been anyway.

Kai watches me as I move past them both and start my way back towards the cabins.

Chris takes a quick glance at the condition inside of the cabin, then closes the door and locks it.

"Everyone is in the game room now but you are allowed to go get some breakfast first," he goes on explaining things as the three of us walk back together. "Because of the impending rain, the event has been postponed until tomorrow. It's not regulation to do everything on the last day but they made a few changes to make it all fit. The busses will come in the morning on Sunday instead of tomorrow night so we can enjoy the end-of-the-summer bon fire without worrying about packing up. We've called your parents so they know already. But we can go over that later." He says a few more apologetic phrases and then tells us that he has to return to the others but to hurry on to get fed. We are instructed to join them in the game room afterwards, and then he leaves.

Kai is still watching me carefully but as Chris breaks away he leaves as well, going on ahead. I toss all of our dirty clothes on Tyson's bunk and pick up my bag to shuffle through it. I find what I am looking for and slip it into my pocket, then go out to meet the others.

Halfway there, I decide that I'm not really hungry and walk straight to the game room instead. I haven't fully grasped what it is that I want, but I know it isn't this. I know that all of the thoughts that had been cycling through my head needed to be voiced. He had to know everything before anything else could happen. We had to get to the same position and not this cat and mouse game that he had started with me.

In the game room they had set up several tables. Each one had a different game being played in a round robin sort of manner. I find a table and sit down, hoping that nobody notices me.

"There you are! Weren't you hungry?" After some time has passed, Tyson finds me first. For once, Max isn't right behind him.

"I was too excited to join the fun in here that I couldn't think about food." I smile at him. No other response would be enough for him not to inquire further. "Where's Max?" I ask, hoping that it is enough of a distraction to keep his mind off my recently abnormal behavior.

"He tried to sweet talk the lady giving us our food for an extra dessert so she made him stay to help clean up," he laughs.

"Ahh." I nod, confirming that I understand.

"I dunno about Kai though…" As if I had asked. Maybe a part of me did actually want to know though. The part that wasn't angry at him. "He didn't show up either. I thought he would be with you."

"I haven't seen him." I hadn't wanted my words to come out short this time but they still displayed a lingering resentment and unfortunately, Tyson picked up on it.

"What did you guys fight about anyway?" he asks. Oh right. Tyson and Max had both thought that we were fighting. I suppose under the circumstances, that that would still seem to be the case.

"It isn't a fight," I say, unsure of how to proceed. I had to explain it in a way that he won't keep asking or approach Kai later to ask or confirm. So I had to make it seem uninteresting enough to be forgotten about. "He…I…just fell off the bed in my sleep." Yeah. That totally makes sense…

He laughs.

"You really CAN sleep through anything! Do you remember that time when…"

"Hey Tyson! Over here!" One of Tyson's new friends calls out to him, saving me. He waves back enthusiastically.

"Why are you sitting over here anyway? Let's go play something!" He gives me one big pat on the back to get me going. "Are they keeping score?" He looks around the room.

"Uh, yeah. I was waiting for the new round to start. They are giving everyone an hour or so at each game." I had only been paying attention briefly but had picked up on the system by watching a few of the groups. "I think there is three minutes left…?" I look at the clock on the wall near the entrance.

"Awesome! We didn't miss much then!" He sounds so happy.

"Heeeey! She let me take two anyway! Look!" Max tackles Tyson, causing him to crash into me. He is holding out a box of pastries like it is a prize and beaming brightly as if it really is one. "Oh Ray! We missed you! Are you hungry? I'll share!" He opens the box and pushes it towards me. "Here!" I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but for the first time all day, I can't help but smile for real. I temporarily forget my brooding and happily accept the 'prize'. I may have ignored it earlier, but I am absolutely starving.

"Thanks."

A buzzer sounds and orders are given to switch tables.

"Come on Ray, let's go find our group! You just made it Max! Maybe we will get to play each other!" Tyson pulls at my arm, nearly causing me to choke on the pastry I had been about to consume, then bolts over to where the rest of our bunkmates are gathered. Caught up in the rush of it all, I quickly shove the pastry in my mouth and hurry after him.

I would have to worry about Kai later.

He never makes an appearance for the games and he doesn't show up at lunch, and for some reason, this brings back my anger at full force. I mean, who does he think he is? People don't just challenge you and then disappear without letting you ask what the rules are. I was finally ready to discuss this with him and he was just…gone? He was unbelievable.

When he shows up at my cabin on the way to dinner, I don't even want to acknowledge him anymore. I had by then decided that a relationship with Kai was rash and selfish and there were more important people to think about here. When I had been mulling over all these emotions I had, I had not considered a future. Mainly because I hadn't believed that Kai would ever reciprocate my feelings. Now, faced with the option of his reciprocation, it just seemed unrealistic. My feelings for Kai and the games he was playing with me, were separating me from my other friends. I hadn't noticed it before but it had and they had done nothing to deserve that. They had done nothing but support me. What had Kai done? He dangled things in front of me and then took them away. How would it end up if I were in an authentic relationship with him? I didn't even know if a 'relationship' was on the table. So there was no reason for me to keep pursuing one. Am I being too harsh?

Tyson and Max had already gone on ahead to dinner. We had spent most of our free time in the cabin since it had been raining off and on all day. It had stopped now but I had lingered behind to clean up a bit since I had left things disorderly earlier and we had just made a bigger mess by playing inside.

I don't even hear his approach or the door opening, but when I turn away from the bag of laundry I had been organizing I am startled to find Kai leaning in the doorway waiting for me.

"Are we okay?" he asks when I notice him. Even his words surprise me. It wasn't like him to really care if we were or we weren't. Even if he did care, he certainly wouldn't ask. There was something human about it. Something that brought Kai a bit closer to whatever level I was on right now and not on the level I had placed him on above me.

"We're good," I answer with a forced smile. I refuse to be anybody's 'game' and I am determined to make that much clear to him at least. I don't know if he believes me. I don't believe me…but he seems to accept it as we walk out together. Or so I thought.

"I have upset you." It's a statement and not a question.

"I'm fine," I spit out. This time my anger slips through my indignation and resolve.

"Evidently you're not." He stops walking and crosses his arms. I decide not to hold back anymore. Trying to figure out what he was thinking was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle upside down. With enough patience it could be done, but at the moment, patience wasn't staying in line.

"Isn't this what you want? To toy with me and make me crazy? Congratulations..." I cross my own arms and go to walk away from him.

"No." He stops me dead in my tracks. I turn back to look at him. He's sincere. There wasn't even a hint of play in his tone. It was nothing like the way he had been last night. He forces me to keep eye contact while he takes a few steps towards me as if his glare could make me fold. It could…it was, even… I instinctively want to take a step backwards but he is holding me there with that gaze. I feel helpless again. I feel his control sweep through me for a second time and I forget everything else momentarily. "I wanted you to be honest," he finishes his thought.

"I was."

"No," he repeats, just as forceful. "You're still hiding behind excuses." I look down.

Excuses? Was that all I was doing? He's so sure of himself that I have to consider it. He has been pushing me for a long time. I can see it now. And while I am still unsure of what he was getting out of all this, the lack of hesitation he had in everything was getting to me. How is it that he is so sure…about everything? I wanted it. I wanted to be THAT sure of myself.

A sudden urge overcomes me, and it's crazy, but his pushing has led me there.

I drive myself forward, grabbing his arm so he doesn't disappear or back away, and I kiss him. It's brief. As quickly as I had empowered myself, my nerve slips away and I withdrawal. I can't look at him but I keep my hand on his arm, gripping it tighter as the eminent blush washes over my face.

"I'm sorry…I have to go," I reply lowly, letting him go.

I can't help it. He's right. I like to make excuses. But this isn't so easy when you have never done it before. I don't pretend to know anything about love or what it is supposed to be like, but when I am faced with him, with all this, I can't breathe. And it IS however, easy to run.

He reminds me one more time that he has control and isn't afraid to use it as he catches my hand before I walk away. He brings me back, his other hand brushing up my neck to grab the back of my head as the space between us quickly closes. My heart jumps into my throat again and when our lips meet this time, it is with a passion I had never experienced before. One that I probably couldn't have even imagined in my best dream. My eyes slip closed and my back is pressed to a nearby tree. Both of my hands grip the front of his shirt to steady myself as he completely takes me over.

It's funny how one minute you can tell yourself that something is 'rash' and 'selfish' and the next that idea is being kissed right out of you. The 'more important people' I had wanted to focus on obviously hadn't met Kai's lips. Nor would I want them too. I don't want to share them. I am almost ashamed of myself for thinking that I wanted to give up the chance for this.

When he pulls back, I am breathless. The hand slides back down my neck and gently across my chin. I feel his body heat move away a little and I can barely open my eyes as I try to regain my surroundings, still gripping his shirt as if it were my lifeline. Every part of me that he has touched is burning with the memories and wishing there had been more.

He smirks.

"Just had to make sure it was done right," he teases.

I push him away, fighting between being angry again and wanting to pull him back to me. If I had ever thought that I couldn't be hypnotized, I didn't believe it now. If he asked me to do anything at this instant, I would probably do it.

"I really hate you…" I manage to say when I finally catch my breath again. His smirk widens.

I step away from him, trying to put a distance between us so that I can regain my head.

"I can't do this with you…" I let out as my thoughts become more lucid. I face him but make sure to keep the space between us untouched. "Kai, you're the most rational person I know. Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because you don't believe yourself when you say you don't want it."

"Yeah, no kidding," I exhale sarcastically. I sigh and turn away from him, wanting this whole thing to just be done with. Why was it so hard to decide which side I wanted to be on? If it was this frustrating for myself, I couldn't even imagine how it felt to be him. But I had to make him understand.

"What more do you need?" he asks, crossing his arms again. I turn back to him, biting my lip but making sure he knows I am serious.

"A guarantee."

"Of what? That you won't get hurt?"

"Yes. And a million other things." I take a deep breath. "Kai, this is unknown ground. So unknown that I don't even know if it's okay that it exists. I need to know what I am walking into. But I don't know. So I don't know how to prepare. And I don't know if I am mentally prepared to just 'take it as it comes' the way that you seem to think that I can." Woah. Talk about confessions. Did I just say all that?

Kai doesn't respond right away, as if he is thinking it over, and I conclude that I have indeed just spilled out my heart. It wasn't quite as satisfying as I had hoped it would be but at least it was done.

"Look, we have to go," I sigh again, frowning as I go to pass him so I can go to dinner. He stops me again by grabbing my arm.

"You've done nothing but run from this since the beginning. Just stop running, Ray. It's not in your nature." I meet his eyes, for once knowing exactly what it is that I want to say to him. The one thing that had been stopping me from the start and continued to make me insecure and confused every time we were together. I brush his hand away from my arm to break the contact before I can change my mind.

"But it is in yours."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade!

A/N: Sorry to anyone who read that last monstrosity. I have (almost) completely re-written this chapter but I kept some of the important bits from the previous write up so some of it may look (or be) familiar. My inner ramblings just got too out of hand. Probably because I was overly tired but I should have considered that before posting it. And sorry if anyone actually liked it. The perfectionist in me just couldn't leave it the way it was. It was driving me crazy… XD Thanks!

Chapter 11: You Break It, You Buy It

"I see you guys got lucky," Sarah approaches our table at breakfast. Her posse isn't with her this time but she isn't any less menacing without them.

"Luck has nothing to do with it!" Tyson protests.

"It may have a little…" Max considers it. It was true, we couldn't really say that the rain was something we controlled.

Tyson stands up indignantly, not accepting it.

"And don't even think about trying something now!" he growls at her. "That would just be poor tastes and proof that you can't handle us. Accept your fate!"

She doesn't waver at all.

"If you think 'fate' will help you, you picked the wrong summer camp." She walks away.

Tyson sits back down in frustration.

"She makes my blood boil!" he gripes.

"Calm down, Tys. That's probably what she wants," Max talks him down.

"Yeah, Tys. If you let your anger cloud your mind she has already won," I back Max up. Tyson sighs and settles down a bit.

"I can't help it. I just want to smash that stupid smile right off her face." This gets a few wary looks and I smile at their sources to try and reassure them that he is just kidding. They seem to buy it and resume their food eating without further concern.

"I know how you feel." I send a glance in Kai's direction. "But actually doing it won't get you anything but locked up again." Kai smirks as if that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

He hadn't said much at all since yesterday and it was starting to make me a little uneasy. Especially since he didn't seem angry with me. If he was, he hid it well. There was something else that he was displaying instead. I just hadn't quite put my finger on what it was.

"They still have the advantage here. I don't think this will end how you want it to," Kai finally speaks. All three of us turn to him.

Why do I get the sudden feeling that this isn't JUST about the game?

"Way to be a poor sport, Kai. Whose side are you on?" Tyson disapproves of the insinuation.

"If you have to ask, you aren't listening," Kai goes on. Tyson huffs but his interest is peaked.

"So what are you suggesting?" he asks curiously.

"Instead of going for the most obvious solution, you might want to try a different method of obtaining your goal. You want to win. There is more than one way to do this." He looks directly at me. "Don't underestimate them." His eyes shift back to them. "You are still following the rules. They aren't. But they do have weaknesses."

Rules? We had never established rules. Did we? And what is this weakness? There had been no indication that one of those existed. So if he is letting me know that one does, what would it be?

"He's too confident…" I mutter to myself. Tyson looks at me confused and Max frowns.

"What are you talking about, Ray?" Tyson scratches his head. I look at them as a sudden realization comes to mind.

"Confidence. It only works if they are faced directly with you. The way to beat them is not to engage them. They don't have any power if they don't have anybody to control," I explain.

I look back at Kai as Tyson mulls over this new bit of information. He meets my gaze with one of his own and somehow looks satisfied. How can he be satisfied if he has just shared some obscure secret with me that could potentially be used against him later? Or was he implying that he wants me to leave him alone? No, that can't be it. If he had wanted that he wouldn't have taken this so far.

"I guess that makes sense. But how do we win if we don't engage them?"

"Maybe that's the 'other methods' Kai is talking about. The object of the game is to retrieve the flag and return to home base. We don't have to run into them at all to do this. We just need to distract them so somebody else can get the flag. We need them!" Max indicates the rest of the boys in the room.

Having a new set of goals, they start articulating a new plan, getting the other boys involved but keeping it quiet as to not attract the attention of any of the girls. Kai and I are forgotten. He is studying me carefully and I lean over the table a bit so I don't alert the others.

"I'm not trying to fight you," I tell him curtly. He shrugs it off and crosses his arms apathetically.

"Coulda fooled me." Short, but not angry.

End of conversation. This was maddening.

If Kai was serious, he should understand what I was doing. He knows that I don't hold his past experiences against him, we were a 'forgive and forget' bunch after all, but I couldn't just ignore it either. Kai is an opportunist. He sees what's good and goes for what's better. There is no way of knowing that this little game wouldn't get old for him and that after he got what he wanted, he would move on. I am protecting myself. Yeah, that's it. I'm just…protecting myself.

He had said that I should stop running. That I needed to be honest with myself. Was I capable of that in this situation? It was true that it wasn't normally in my nature to run. But I was still struggling to find 'normal' again. In the past few months, running had become something that I grasped quite easily. It had become my 'normal'. And I am a creature of habit. I like a good challenge as much as the next guy but everyone has lines that they don't want to cross.

I suppose thoughts like that are the reason he has the upper hand in this. In theory I should be able to overcome the obstacles, even the ones I had placed myself…but when faced with an actual situation I became nothing more than a bunch of nerves. A good competitor knows that nerves are not an excuse not to do your best. But I had let it become a crutch and accepted it without questioning it. Would it be different now that we were on an even playing field? I mean, it was no longer a guessing game of how he would take it or if he would turn me away. That could have been what he was after throughout this whole thing. Maybe he had similar insecurities to mine but was choosing not to struggle with them the way I was. He was the type of person who ALWAYS had to be in control. Anything else was just…not him. And as far as I knew, he had no lines.

The bell ending breakfast rings and everyone starts to get up.

"Alright! Let's go beat some girls!" Despite how completely wrong that sounded, on many levels, everyone gets pumped.

But…

Even with a solid plan we weren't prepared for what actually happened.

After changing into clothes that would help us blend in with the trees, painting our faces, and preparing ourselves for a battle, we had all gone out to the meeting place with enthusiasm.

The rules had been pretty clear. The camp was divided into two sides, the boys and the girls. The sections were clearly marked with painted lines and corner markers. You could only attack the opposing team if they were either in your territory or in possession of your flag. If a member crossed over and did not have the flag, they could return to their own territory and be safe. Anyone who went out of bounds was automatically considered out of the game.

Attacks were only allowed to be made by the use of water balloons. No physical contact between the two teams was permitted, except whatever minimal exchange would happen when a flag was returned to its owner. Big surprise huh? The water balloons were provided in random, various places all throughout both territories in buckets placed on the ground. The buckets were not allowed to be moved and each person was only allowed to carry around 2 balloons at any time.

Once hit, a person was considered 'captured' and had to stay where they were without moving until one of their own team members 'freed' them. Any person captured again after being freed once was out for good. If the balloons happened to run out, nobody else could be captured unless a flag was in play. In which case, the flag would merely switch hands and the person carrying it would be considered captured.

Freedom was gained by a team member coming in contact with you, by touching an arm or foot or holding a hand or something like that, and counting to three. If they didn't make it to three or were captured in the process, they were not freed.

The end of the game was announced either by having possession of both flags within the 'base' on your own team's side or by the end of the time period that was designated. We had 2 hours and a foghorn would sound when it was up. If time ran out and the flags were not together, the winner was decided by the amount of prisoners still frozen or out of the game. Whichever team had the most would then be decided the winner.

The flags had to remain in a place that was visible at eye level at all times. The starting position determined where the 'base' was and had to be clearly marked so that the end positions could be easily identified, and also had to remain in a place that was noticeable. An adult was placed near each base as a monitor for announcing a winner but was not to participate in any way. We were allowed to leave one person to guard the base but that one person was not allowed to move the flag unless stealing it back from the other team after they had obtained it.

Sounds simple enough right?

Kai had been right about them not following the rules.

Within the first ten minutes of the whistle announcing the start of the game, seven of the guys purposely walked out of bounds so that they were disqualified. Some of them made it clear that they had either been injured in past games and hadn't wanted to repeat it, or that the girls had influenced them some way into making that decision.

Two more had been 'accidentally' rolled down a hill and fallen out of bounds; one had tripped on something that still hasn't been identified and cut his leg deep enough that he had to be sent to the nurses cabin; and three more had unexplainably ended up in the lake, which, being a rule on its own that we weren't allowed in the water, had also been disqualified from the game.

After that, the girls had managed to create the perfect horror movie. I could hear things around me but didn't know what they were or which direction they were really coming from. Every now and then I would hear somebody scream. And I was completely alone. To be honest I wasn't even sure which side of the border I was on. These woods all looked the same to me.

In the beginning, after we had designated our guard, me, the remaining boys had broken up into groups of three and four to stop the girl's advance at the border while one person, Kai, went in search for the location of their flag. Once the flag had been spotted, we were meant to regroup and decide on a way of obtaining it without coming into contact with them. The groups that weren't watching the border were set up in various places so that if the girls did manage to get close to where I was that they wouldn't be able to get to me without being ambushed. However, they seemed to know some secret way of getting past us because we had only managed to capture four of them.

So by now you are probably asking me why I am wandering out here alone and not guarding our flag? Yeah, about that…

I had been prepared, listening carefully to anyone who may or may not approach. I had taken down two girls with one water balloon, one of which started crying. But I wasn't falling for that one. No, I fell for what was next instead. Two girls came up behind me at the same time that six came around the front.

I only had one shot left in possession so I had to make a choice.

I chose the six, only managing to hit three, while the two girls behind me made off with the flag. The three girls I had missed, hid and while I was trying to decide which to be more concerned with, I lost sight of all of them. After finally deciding whether to baby sit the girls I had captured or to go after the flag, I opted to go after the flag. It was my responsibility after all, and we were already outnumbered by quite a lot. I wasn't even sure how the heck they had made it that far in such a large group anyway…unless of course they had all entered in one large group to begin with. If they had ALL entered at the same time and stuck together, I could see how some of them would have made it past the line we had set up. It was genius actually. I suppose now is not the time to be admiring them though.

I had a flag to find. And quick.

"You lost again?" So of course it's the perfect time to run into Kai. Although I probably wouldn't have seen him at all if it weren't for the bright orange flag he was holding. I'm not surprised. He always had a way of making things seem easy.

"What are you doing over here? The base is back that…" I turn around and try to grasp sight of anything that looks familiar that would let me know where I was. The trees were so thick in this part of camp that it was hard to see anything distinguishing at all. You would think that coming from a village like mine I would be awesome at this, but man do I hate trees for all looking the same right now.

"Hn." His thoughts of me being lost are confirmed and he doesn't hide his amusement in that. The vibe he had been sending out all day still has that mystery around it and I try harder to figure out what it is. He walks over to me. "I did my part." He shoves the flag into my chest and I take it as he lets it go. "Now you have to do yours." He goes to walk away but I grab his arm. I finally put a word to his actions. He was being indifferent. Putting a distance between us as if he no longer cared what happened. After coming so far with him, I couldn't just stand there and allow him to go back.

"Wait," I catch his eye.

A shuffling of leaves nearby make us both freeze and he immediately pulls me towards him so that his body is hiding the color of the flag and the trees and bushes are providing us with the camouflage not to be seen. My breath catches in my chest as he holds me in my position and waits for the shuffling to move away. He looks down at me in my slouched and uncomfortable stance and smirks.

"It's okay to breathe, Ray," he says close to my face. It wasn't a complete whisper but it was quiet enough that nobody else would hear it. I can feel the tension already building up between us as my whole body is drawn to his.

"It's better if we stick together," I breathe out quietly, pushing away from him. My heart is already betraying my actions with its increased speed and I try my best to quiet it. These are the things that I had come to be used to when I brushed close to him like that.

"Do you know where they went?" He crosses his arms.

"No, but they can't win without this anyway." I hold up the flag. "And I don't think we are supposed to hide it." He makes a sound of disbelief.

"They only said it had to be visible at eye level. They never said it couldn't be blocked from view." I can't argue with him. He had made it this far without being detected. If anyone could win this game, it was probably him. "Just stay behind me." He guides me into his shadow and starts to lead. "If they go back to their base, I already know where it is. Just don't let them see that you have theirs."

"Thanks…" I suddenly feel as if I would always be behind him. "Oh second thought, I got myself into this, maybe I should just go myself." He turns back to me and eyes my curiously.

"There isn't time for second thoughts. If we just stand here discussing…"

"I'll go myself," I interrupt him. I shove the flag back at him and walk ahead of him.

"Do you even know where you are going?" He watches me go, making no move to follow.

"It doesn't matter. You just make sure they don't get that back." I send him a stern look. He nods, but hesitates before finally leaving me. I take a deep breath. Just how was I going to get myself out of this one? They probably had the base swarming with traps. Knowing them, I wouldn't be surprised if they were real traps. But, being alone had its advantages. And being me did as well. They would never hear me coming. I just had to figure out which way was the right way.

Okay, focus. I can find my way out of a maze in the dark. This should be cake.

I sneak my way through the trees, avoiding places where I could detect anyone's presence, until I catch sight up the brightly colored flag as it flashed across my peripheral vision. I turn towards the direction I had seen it and spot them. The Tyrannical Trio. I crouch down behind a tree and make sure that I don't hear any other girls nearby. The flag is dangling from Sarah's arm with a clothespin and they appear to be fighting. I move towards them, making sure to stay as quiet as possible. I am so happy that being quiet is one of my best skills. It is something that I don't think Tyson could ever master so in games like this, he was probably going crazy.

"How could you let them take it? I gave you one thing to do, one thing!" Sarah is waving angrily. The girl whose name I didn't know looks down as if Sarah's words were like knives being thrown at her. Nicole steps between them.

"Calm down. We'll get it back. There's no way they will come back over here and get away again." I spot a row of bushes near them and crawl my way around to them to see if I can get close enough to take the flag while they are distracted without them noticing. All I had to do was pull if free quickly, and then run as fast as I could. I could do that.

I inch my way closer, staying low to the ground and well hidden by the bushes. I start to reach through the bush to grab it, when Sarah roughly turns. She unclips the flag from her arm and hands it to Nicole.

I withdraw and move back a little, staying out of their line of sight.

"They better not." She snarls. "I'm going to makes sure those freaks know that that flag is mine." She leaves the other two girls where they are and stalks off. The unknown girl sighs, annoyed.

"We better hide this," Nicole says, searching for a spot. It's then that I wish I had grabbed another water balloon before coming over here. Sometimes thinking ahead came in handy…

I survey the ground for any sign of a bucket.

_Splash!_

I turn back to the girls as some stray water hits my skin. Nicole looks absolutely horrified and the other girl can't even open her eyes because she's too busy hyperventilating. I look for the source of the raid and spot…Tyson?

"Got ya!" he rejoices. "Now hand it over!"

_Splash, splash, splash_

Tyson is immediately drenched from behind. I knew he wasn't built for the stealth games…

"Hey, no fair! They still have to give it up! It's a rule!"

I eye my surroundings and ask myself….what's the worst that could happen? I jump up, snatch the flag in one quick movement and, anticipating the onslaught of balloons, I dart past Tyson as fast as my feet will move.

"Thanks buddy," I wink at him as I run by and I don't stop running, managing to dodge all the girls and their balloon barrage until I get back to our side and…

_Splash!_

I close my eyes and swallow. I had been so close. Just a few more yards and I would have…

"Wait, does that count if he's on our team? Sorry, Ray…" I open my eyes to find Max standing there, looking ashamed. You're telling me that I was captured by my own team? What…the…hell…? It's a wonder we even made it this far…

"I think it's a little late to ask now…" a boy that is with him says with a smile. I shake my head and usher them over emphatically.

"Stop talking. Just take the flag and find Kai," I urge. "Don't look back, just go!"

"Right!" Max grabs the flag just as the group of girls that had been behind me finally catch up and gets ready to throw all that they've got. Max spins around and runs, the other boy blocking his back from anything that might get close to him. I collapse to the ground in exhaustion, leaning up against a tree. At least I didn't feel like a complete failure now. In fact, I felt pretty good. A whistle sounds, ending the game, and I can only assume that they had made it. I didn't think it was possible but we did it.

I stand up and go to find the others.

"I still can't believe you did that!" Tyson clamps onto my shoulders. "You could have at least saved me too! I thought I was going to die back there!"

"Yeah, sorry about that…" I shake him off and half-smile.

"You should have seen the looks on their faces when that whistle blew! I haven't even seen that Sarah girl around. I wonder if she was so angry that she self-destructed." He laughs. My half-smile turns into a full smile.

"It isn't true! It can't be." Tyson's dreams are not granted as the shrill voice comes vibrating through the trees. We come up on the rest of the group and Max comes running over to us. She makes a few more cries of protest and then huffs off, wiping water from her face.

"We did it! You should have seen Kai! She was coming up to attack me and Kai got her right in the face!" He cries out enthusiastically. Everyone shares in his giddy excitement.

"Sorry I missed that!" Tyson throws him a high five. I scan the group.

"Where's Kai now?" I ask when I don't spot him.

"I dunno, he handed the flags over and disappeared. But you know Kai, he'll be back!" I nod and slip away from them, not feeling as joyous as I should. Somehow it didn't seem much like a victory if I wasn't sharing it with Kai. A lot of things seemed different when he wasn't around. I didn't want to be angry with him. And I didn't want him to be angry with me. I had been worried about things not being normal but the truth was, things weren't normal if Kai wasn't there beside me.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.

A/N: So, this is the end and I want to thank everyone who stuck with me to get here. I know it's not perfect but I hope it at least gave you a good journey. I appreciate every single one of you. :) So! Without further delay!

Chapter 12: Love Doesn't Think Twice

I find Kai in his cabin, getting changed into his regular clothes.

"You left pretty quick. You didn't get to see…" He pulls off his shirt and a strange twinge twists through my gut. "…a, the victory…Tyson…" I look away from him to hide my embarrassment.

"We've shared baths, Ray," he says plainly, as he pulls on a different shirt. If I wasn't blushing before, I was now. Somebody save me.

"This was a bad idea." I turn around too hurriedly and stumble into the doorframe awkwardly. I recompose myself within seconds but as I am about to open the door to leave, I think twice about it. I came here for a reason. I keep my hand on the doorknob and inspect the doorframe in front of me as if it has all the answers written on it. "I know things are really awkward with us right now… And I think I know why."

"Is that so?" His tone is flat and it has an air of not really being interested in it. My grip on the doorknob tightens but I have resolved that I am not leaving until I say what I have to say. I stay staring at the wall and take a minute to consider how I want to continue, picking absently at the wood in front of me with my free hand.

"I also know why you sent Tyson to come save me during the game and why you have been baiting me. You think I am lost. You think that I don't know what it is that I want or what I am thinking. You may have been right about that. I know you were just trying to help me. And it wasn't really your place to do so, so you didn't have to. But..." I look down, letting the feeling of being ashamed pass through me. "I never considered how hard this might be for you too."

"Is there a point in there?" He's done dressing and he makes a move to usher me away from the door so he can leave but I turn around and block his way, covering the doorway with my whole body.

"I'm not done." I look at him evenly. For the first time since I had gotten there he actually looks at me too. The initial eye contact normally would have been enough to make me lose my head but I was determined to stay on track. "I'm not letting you leave until you give me something honest." He studies me.

"I thought you had it all figured out?" he challenges me with my own words. I press forward, ignoring the little digs he is throwing at me.

"I came here to tell you that I'm sorry," I reply forcefully. "For what I said and how I have been acting. I have been unfair. And I thought you might wanna know… I'm not afraid anymore." He doesn't react right away and for a moment I think I am getting through to him. But then he leans over, close to my face, stealing my breath and causing me to instantly tense up as I am not sure what he is about to do.

"Move," he orders. I can feel a part of me breaking. I start to move away from the door. "It's too late." His words sound so final and I just can't accept that anymore.

"You're wrong." I pull him towards me, bringing our lips together and this time I don't hesitate. If I could put all my feelings into one action, this was it, and I wanted him to know it. He grabs my arm to pull me closer, taking over with ease, and for a moment it is like we are the only two people that still exist in the world. When he pulls back I actually feel lost, like a part of me has left with him. He stays near me, his breathing slightly heavier but not as out of breath as I am, and he doesn't look at me. "Kai… I know you feel it too." I want him to give me something. A sign. A word. Anything that would tell me that I wasn't just crazy and making things up in my head. "We can't just pretend these feelings don't exist…"

"Why not? You've been doing it for months." Having successfully moved me out of the way without me even realizing it, he leaves. And it feels like my whole world has just shattered. If this was a game, neither of us were playing it fairly. If we WERE building a relationship it certainly wasn't a healthy one. What was I supposed to do now?

I had no idea what to expect when we left here. It really did seem like I had run out of time. There was only a few hours left and they were to be filled with preparing for the bon fire. It seemed as though my chances to fix this had all gone and I had wasted each one of them trying to keep space between us when I should have been trying to make less of it.

Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe he was right to be done with it. I was sure that things couldn't go back to the way they used to be but maybe that was okay. I had changed somehow. Whether it was a good change or a bad change, I wasn't sure yet. But I didn't have room for regrets. When we got home everything would be back to normal. This place must have been poison. That's all it was. Ever since the beginning it had been nothing but one big trial without a fair or just ending. It was almost over now.

I find the rest of the group in the dining hall getting lunch. Kai isn't there but that doesn't come as a surprise to me. Sarah and her group, however, do.

"I thought girls weren't allowed to eat with the guys?" I ask confused as I approach the table. "Why are they here?" I eye them critically.

"No need to be so rude, Ray!" Tyson smiles enthusiastically as I take my seat between him and Max. "They was just telling us some of their secrets."

"What?" I am so beyond confused right now. Maybe being with Kai really had transported me to some alternate dimension. If that were the case, I would have wished for a much better scenario.

"Don't look so skeptical, hon. We've decided to put our differences behind us and be friends." Sarah smiles the fakest smile I have ever seen and suddenly I feel like Tyson's naivety is going to get us all killed. She must be doing that 'if you can't beat them, join them' thing.

"Isn't it a little late for last minute scare tactics? The game is already over…hon…" I look her over judgingly to see if I can find any reason why she would really be there. The rest of her group won't even look up from the table.

"Seriously, Ray! We had a deal! If we won, she said she would be nice to us for the rest of camp," Max interjects, throwing an arm over my shoulders. "She got permission for them to sit with us. The group leaders are all out preparing for later anyway, so they probably don't even care." He laughs, Tyson laughs, Sarah begrudgingly laughs, her two friends smile. I'm however, not laughing.

"Are you sure this is okay? She tried to hurt you," I softly remind both of them.

"Water under the bridge!" Tyson nudges me. See? Forgive and forget bunch. Sometimes I wonder if it's genius or stupidity… "Oh! Tell him how you got that kid last year with the squirrel! How did you even catch a squirrel? Was it hard? This chick is great, Ray! She has some good tricks!"

"Yeah, we'll totally have to remember some of them to get Kenny with! Maybe not the squirrel though. That might give him a heart attack!" More laughing. For a second it looks like Sarah might actually be enjoying herself. Like her shell has cracked ever so slightly. My friends can have that effect on people. It can be quite scary sometimes. I imagine that they could take over the world with their easygoing charisma. Either way, it seems that she is legitimately trying to follow through on her deal, even if she may or may not be pretending to enjoy it. Something about that gives me a bit of hope.

After lunch I wander around aimlessly for a bit, deciding that I needed to get some air after trying my best to be cordial to our new 'friends'. Tyson and Max might be so easy to forget but I still cringe just thinking about anything involving the use of a ball.

When everyone starts to gather for the barbeque and the bon fire, I slip into the game room, which has been completely deserted. The barbeque/bon fire is like the highlight of the summer. Nobody ever missed it. Apparently it's the only time we get to stay up as late as we want to and they tell their ghost stories and sometimes play a few night games in the woods. It's like a celebration of freedom from the rules for the night. Which, really doesn't sound so bad right now but…

_Clink, clink_

I sit down on the floor and watch Driger spin around the otherwise empty dish. It had been quite a while since I had felt like spending some time with him. It made me feel guilty but after facing myself, I was finally ready to move forward and get back to what really mattered to me. It was time to get back in the real game.

_Clink, clink_

At least that's what I was telling myself. Truth was, I still felt lost in the crowd. Everyone had put the bad blood behind them and everything was good. Happy.

So why did I still feel empty and worn out?

I hear the door open behind me but I don't look back to see who it is. I assume it is probably Tyson, if he wasn't completely preoccupied with the girls he would normally be the first to notice my absence. Max might have if he had thought something was wrong but I hadn't indicated to either of them that there was any trouble. And it wouldn't normally be strange for me to choose to be here instead of out there. We had the whole night to have fun and this was a pretty expected place for any of us to choose to do that. Although it could have been anyone since well, it's an open gym.

"Everyone was looking for you."

Driger falters a little, but picks up again as if nothing had happened. Kai hadn't been on my list of viable suspects to come looking for me… Now that he was here, my tiredness becomes even more apparent.

"You found me," I respond, displaying no real emotion. Two can play it like this. If he was going to act like he didn't care, I could do that too.

"So it's like that now?" I can't pick up on his tone to decide if he is disappointed, angry, or something else.

Driger picks up speed and I try not to let on how annoyed he can make me. If it had been two weeks ago I may not have noticed but he seemed to have this passive aggressive way of making everything appear to be my fault. It was okay for him to do it to me but if I try to have any sort of dignity at all, he made it sound criminal. I knew it wasn't right and I didn't want to just accept it anymore. I deserved something more from him.

"Why are you here, Kai? I know it isn't just to tell me that everyone missed me. You would have just let them come on their own." I can picture him shrugging in my head as I hear him walk over.

A silence falls over us and for a few minutes the only noise is my blade spinning around the dish. I start to think that he has left again. It wouldn't be abnormal for him to slip back out without a sound. Most of the time he was invisible in all senses. Like a shadow that was strategically placed just to make you uncomfortable enough to feel that something was wrong but gone before you figured out why or what it was. Even though I painted it in a negative way, there was something about that that had always made me feel safe instead. Like somebody was always there to watch out for me. Maybe it was all something I made up on my own. Maybe he wasn't…

"I wanted it to be you."

Driger goes spinning to a disorganized stop.

"What?" I turn to face him, taken back by his words and finding him closer than I thought he was.

He indicates with a motion that he wants permission to sit down and I nod, letting him take a position next to me on the floor. I wait for him to continue, studying him closely for any answers I might be able to find myself.

"At the game this morning. I may have sent Tyson to help you but it wasn't because I thought that you wouldn't make it. When Max showed up and not you, I was actually angry…because I wanted it to be you." I am not quite sure what he is trying to say but it might be the first genuine thing he has said to me during this trip. Hell, our whole friendship even. I can see in his eyes that he is trying to show me a piece of himself. Something that he wouldn't want anyone else to see.

"I'm sorry it wasn't me…" I can't help but have the need to apologize. Even if it hadn't been completely my fault, his honestly made me believe that I could have done better somehow.

"I don't want to have these feelings. Towards anyone." He's looking at me, but for some reason it seems as if he is really just looking right through me to something farther away. Something that only he can see. "I don't want to think that there is somebody else out there that I can believe in. That I DO believe in." And then he is back, and he is letting me know that it is me that he is referring to. It kind of made sense now. I had thought he had been angry about what I had said but he had been angry because he had anticipated something and had been let down. I knew all too well how that felt. I am sure that Kai had safeguarded himself enough that he thought he never would. Having his say that he was seemed to make me feel a lot better about myself.

"What about Tyson?" I know it seemed out of place to ask such a strange question but Tyson had effected a lot of people. It was hard for anyone to admit that the erratic teen was someone who was pretty reliable and would always have your back, but it was true for just about everyone who he called a friend. I know I believed in him. And I saw the way they bladed together. They had this…connection.

"Tyson…is…not the same." I actually laugh at the sour look that comes to his face and I look down at my hands in my lap. He was right about that too. All the connection in the world wasn't enough to ignore the rest of what it was that made Tyson, Tyson. My admiration for both of them was completely different.

I let the air thin out between us as it seems we might be getting closer to a common ground to meet on. And despite my want to ignore the questions that could potentially end in me being hurt by the answers, I know I have to ask them.

"So, if you feel that way, why did you push me so hard?"

"I didn't think you would push back. I thought I could scare you away. You already seemed really unsure about yourself…" he smirks but not in a mean way. It was like he was teasing me. It was true, I had been pretty unsure. If it had been anyone else, I probably would have been scared away. Or at least retreated enough that I wouldn't have kept thinking about it. "I should have known you were too smart for that. You were always different than the others."

"I would hope so. Those two are hopeless!" I laugh again, hoping it will take some of the pressure of how serious this conversation had gotten away but not so much that he would stop confiding in me. It goes quiet as the mood settles down a bit, my resentment from earlier is gone, and the awkwardness of having him display his feelings seems to dissipate with it. My uneasiness about what he is saying, however, doesn't. "So what happens now? If you don't want to feel…" I cut myself off as his hand wraps around my arm. My chest tightens and my concentration seems to refocus on everything that my body is doing rather than anything that I might desire to say.

"I think you were right." He leans over and his nose brushes across the side of my face slowly, taunting me to turn towards him. "We can't pretend they don't exist." I know I should be happy, that I should just go with it and give him what he wants, my compliance. Nevertheless, I am suddenly super aware that we are still in a building that anyone could walk into at any moment and I go move back a bit to get a glimpse of the room around us and any potential witnesses. But, he must have already expected that because his other hand takes my chin and turns my face towards his, brushing his lips close to mine. "Not when I have already tasted what it feels like to have you." My mind can no longer object as my body takes control and I push our lips together, everything else becoming obsolete. I can feel him smile as he presses forward and deepens the kiss, taking it to a totally different level of intensity. If we both died in that second, I would be happy. As far as I know, I am already dead and this is heaven. Or some other afterlife that only existed in my perfect world.

I grip his shirt with one hand and put my other down behind me as he pushes himself over me, almost causing me to fall to the floor. His lips don't leave mine, taking me in hungrily and skillfully as his hands both drop down to either side of me, boxing me in and keeping me locked inside with his authority over me.

"Kai…" I gush when he separates from me to breathe. He keeps his face close to mine, letting our bangs brush together as he gives me a nudge with his nose and one last quick kiss before detangling himself from my grasp. My face is flushed and my eyes are still half-closed as I grab his arm to stop him from moving away further. "Wait."

"Hn," he smirks with satisfaction.

"Why do you always have to do everything better than me?" I breathe out heavily and open my eyes, letting my surroundings reappear gradually.

"How else will you learn?" he replies, taking on a half serious attitude. I push him, faking annoyance.

"You're ridiculous…" I shake my head incredulously. "When we get back home you better not disappear. If you do or I find out that this is just some very elaborate dream, I'll…" He cuts me off with another kiss, this one not as forceful and almost as if it was meant to be reassuring in a way. I relax.

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispers and then meets my eyes as if to prove it. "I'm not done with you yet." He winks, then he stands up and retrieves Driger from the dish where I had left him abandoned. I'm not sure what Kai meant by that remark but I could guess and anything I was guessing was not something I should have been thinking about right there. Cue distraction so that my mind can return to a safe place!

"We s…should probably f…find the others before they really DO come looking for us," I stutter my way out of my own thoughts.

My other friends were always awesome for a distraction. Nothing about them made me all fluttery inside the way these sort of things did. Although suddenly, having friends seemed like a terrible thing when all I really wanted to do was stay here with Kai. I watch him as he walks back over.

He pulls me to my feet and hands me back my blade.

"With all that commotion I am surprised they can keep track of anyone..." He pauses as thoughts of Sarah cross my mind and as if knowing what they are he rolls his eyes.

"Tyson." A sense of urgency comes over me and I rush out the door to go find them, with him following me reluctantly. And even though I am fearful for my friend's lives in this instance, I am also really happy. Things actually seem as if they will work out now. I had gotten something honest from him. Something I could actually hold on to and that wasn't another mystery or puzzle to figure out. No matter how many walls he wanted to build to keep me out, I was still making my way in. Knowing that, I could live without knowing everything else right away.

When we reach the bon fire, Tyson is wrapped up in telling some really intense ghost story and Max is teaching some of the others how to get the most out of a stick to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. And Sarah, well Sarah and her friends alike all seemed to have loosened up a bit. The girl whose name I hadn't learned is actually sharing a marshmallow with one of the other boys and Nicole is laughing at something that Max is saying while trying to cover her mouth to hide it. Sarah is completely engrossed in Tyson's story and even jumps when he gets to the end. After Tyson's ghost story finale, dares of entering the woods and touching the 'haunted' car start up and Tyson is the first to volunteer.

I smile.

"Hn." Kai retakes my attention from the party. "I told you. They don't even know we're gone."

"Hey…" An idea pops into my head. "Since we're having a 'no rules' kinda night… Wanna go for a swim?"

"I think I have a better idea." He leads me away from the group again. "I won't even ask you to hit me this time to get there."

"Oh yeah…what WAS that about anyway?" I go over the possibilities in my head, nothing quite making sense, but when I realize that the only thing in the direction that he is taking me is the isolation cabin, I get it.

"Oooh." I really should have figured THAT one out sooner. It would have saved me a lot of trouble earlier. It was only by chance that we had ended up there before and we certainly hadn't been alone. I think under the circumstances it hadn't been all that bad though. Even if it had taken me longer to get to the end than it would have if I had discovered it sooner, it was still where the ball had started rolling. "Wait." I stop abruptly and he turns back in inquiry. "This isn't just some one-time thing is it?"

"You know, for a guy, you sure do think an awful lot." I scowl at his insinuation.

"I just…want to be sure."

"Don't make me say it." He says this as a warning, and halfway bored, but also in a way that shows that my persistence will win him over.

"Say what?" It's my turn to smirk. He takes a deep breath.

"Ray…I." I hold up my hands and stop him, as if knowing would be too much to handle for me.

"Nevermind. You can tell me later…" I rush onward, walking up to the cabin and unlocking the door. He comes up behind me and grabs my hand.

"You know you're going to have to stop that, right?" I turn back to him, averting my eyes from looking directly at him.

"Stop what?" I ask innocently. He waits until I make eye contact to continue.

"Being embarrassed. It only gets worse from here. And…" He opens the door and leads me inside. "I LIKE you too much to keep letting you slip back." He pulls me to him, letting the door close behind us.

He said it. He actually said it.

Yeah, so what if it was in a derisive tone. And so what if he's now pushing me against the door and taking control over me like I am some sort of puppet with no will of my own. As long as he's with me, everything feels completely right and I don't want that feeling to ever go away. Everything in this moment is real and it's mine. And I could not wish for anything better.

Maybe it wasn't the concrete relationship I would have liked to have establish, but it was something that we were creating together now. Something that both of us wanted, together. It was an understanding, and maybe on some level, a promise. Sometimes we didn't need words to express ourselves to each other. That was one thing we had always shared, even before there was more than friendship lingering in the air between us. And something told me that that was a sure way of knowing, we would be in this together for a very long time.


End file.
